In Between Madness and Life
by AkumaNoDanna
Summary: Deidara is sent to a reform school, labeled as an S-rank student. For two months he regarded himself as a lunatic, but finds his mind fairly sane in comparison to his rank-mates. One can only stay so sane in a madhouse. AU, SasoDei.
1. Arrival

_Hej, so this is my first attempt at writing a 'realistic' SasoDei high school fic. I was writing a completely different fic, but then I had an idea for this one and became obsessed with it in a flash. That's also why I wanted to publish it right now and not later when I've finished more chapters. I don't know, maybe you've already grown tired of high school fics, but I certainly haven't. I hope you like it._

_Also, just in case, I added the definitions of the phobias mentioned in this fic to the end of the chapter._

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - Arrival<strong>

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><p>It was a pleasant late-summer morning in the city. Deidara's mother drove him through the town down the empty streets, taking no turns as the GPS told her to only follow the main road. They lived on the other side of the city and it was a long way. They had been on the road since 3 pm; Deidara's mom was allegrophobic.<p>

The clock on the dashboard was nearing five o'clock, but Deidara didn't feel like closing his eyes yet. He'd used to have it so easy falling asleep at all hours, whenever he'd willed, but it all had changed two months ago. Now he couldn't close his eyes even for a short period of time during the night when it was dark.

The fear wasn't in his mind, it was somewhere much deeper. He couldn't shake it off, he couldn't fall asleep in the dark to save his life. Involuntarily, his tired eyes stayed open and gazed out of the window, taking in the passing scenery.

It was already quite light in the city center, the sun was about to rise, tinting the lower part of the sky pink. Deidara had rarely visited this part of town, he hadn't been in need to go so far from home often. This current block was unfamiliar to him.

It may have been only his imagination, but the city seemed to grow darker again as they neared the other edge of town. It wasn't so much the missing light, but the atmosphere that radiated off the buildings. It was unfriendly, malicious and turned ominous the moment they were past the city boarder an hour later.

"About an hour to go, darling," Deidara heard his mother say from the front seat. She made it sound like a good thing. Deidara would've preferred spending his whole life in this car, a 2004 Ford, than set his foot in the place he'd been exiled to.

He'd spent his summer running between shrinks' offices and the police station, neither of them having any effect for the better on the situation. The police men hadn't been interested in finding the one guilty, he'd realized, their only interest had been to close the case. The shrinks couldn't cure him, he'd known, the only help for him could've been amnesia.

Deidara couldn't tell people what was wrong with him when he didn't even know it himself. He didn't know the cause for his constant anxiety, he only knew the growing list of phobias that came with it – claustrophobia, nyctophobia, social phobia, aquaphobia.

He'd once suggested visiting an asylum, high-class if possible, but it had been laughed off in his face. There weren't many people who believed him and one of them who would have was dead now.

It was all quite similar with the police investigation. Once the denial had slipped from his lips, he'd been confronted with the question of 'who had done it then?'. But how could he tell them, if he didn't know himself? It had been dark, there had been many people, he didn't know! By a mere chance, people had seen him standing the closest to the victim. It had been a coincidence!

The police obviously hadn't bought it. Throwing a fit and shouting at them that it was their job to find out who had done it and not his hadn't helped either, Deidara had noted after thinking it over countless times. He didn't like dwelling on the topic, but there was no escaping from it as it had become his past, present and future.

Having been found guilty of murdering his best friend by the jury, Deidara was now on his way to the strictest reform school in the country.

The campus of the Otogakure no Sato Academy, commonly known as 'hellhole' among its students and as 'Oto no Sato' among everyone else, was surrounded by a perimeter fence with spiraling barbed wire on top. It took a good half an hour of searching to find the gate. While walking along the fence, Deidara grew more and more certain that he did not want to go inside.

The scenery was most awful, the grass and trees looking like there hadn't been any rain for the last five months. In each corner of the campus there stood a large square building with grayish-black walls and barred windows. The ground was mostly yellow and brown, cigarettes and broken glass covering most part of it. If they had a groundskeeper, he was dead and his ghost hadn't shown up to continue with the work.

Sighing, Deidara sat down on his dark-blue duffel bag in front of the locked gate. His mom had already taken off to make it on time to her work. He wasn't worried about being the first to arrive as it certainly wasn't his first time to arrive hours earlier. In the letter they'd received it had been clearly stated that all students, both the new and the old, were expected at 11 o'clock sharp. Without having to check his phone for it, Deidara knew that it wasn't even 7 yet.

Fortunately it wasn't dark anymore – the reason Deidara had begun to love summers and despise winters. His body felt weak from the lack of sleep and almost acted on its own, lying down on the bag and letting the boy close his eyes. Deidara felt his body relax and the tension left him, his shivering arms becoming still as he fell asleep in seconds.

Deidara woke up to the bright sun shining straight into his face. The position he was in on the duffel bag seemed intolerably uncomfortable now that he was awake and he pushed himself up, shielding his eyes with his hand.

Casting a shadow, a pleasant-looking woman gazed down at him, her lips forming a friendly smile once she saw the blond awake. Even though she seemed sincere enough, Deidara had trouble believing anyone in this school could pull off a truly friendly act. He'd heard too many rumors for that.

The woman's expression remained unaffected by the blond's prejudice. "Hello there, are you new here? You've arrived early."

Her talking pissed Deidara off for more than one reason. Firstly, he knew god damn well that he was early. For god's sake, for his entire life he'd been early. In addition to that, Deidara finally understood the reason for her friendly act. She thought he was female. Deidara knew he looked mostly like an innocent teenage girl; it had affected the way other people talked to him for as long as he could remember.

Not wanting to start his already crumpled page here in a bad tone, he flashed the lady a shy smile. "Yeah, I misjudged the distance."

The woman looked taken aback, covering his mouth with his hand in surprise. "Oh my, you're a boy."

"Indeed," Deidara nodded, keeping the forced smile on his face. The woman gave him an apologetic smile that he waved off. "Don't worry, you're far from the only one who's made that mistake."

"Oh, alright. My name is Shizune, I'm one of the teachers. And your name is…?"

"Iwaga, Deidara Iwaga."

Shizune flipped through her papers, searching for his file. Deidara noticed her eyes widen after scanning the paper she'd found. Her expression darkened, the friendliness fading and turning into cold indifference. Deidara guessed she was reading his criminal history. He sighed. He'd almost forgotten; nobody was going to believe him here either.

When she looked back at him, all traces of pleasantness had disappeared. Deidara could read right from her eyes that she felt disgusted. Even though she was a stranger, it broke Deidara's heart to know that people thought he'd killed someone. Broke his heart, or what was left of it anyway. His face feeling cold and hot at the same time, he lowered his head in embarrassment and sorrow.

He didn't think of Shizune badly now because of it; he knew that if he'd been in her shoes, he would've felt the same way. Looking at someone in front of you who you knew had taken a life with their own bare hands - it was hard imagining something more sickening.

Mentally, Deidara would've wished for their death. He would've regarded them as despicable creatures not worthy of breathing the same air as others. He would've treated them coldly, expressing in any way possible how much he loathed them.

And now he was in one of the despicable creatures' shoes and would remain there forever more. He'd done nothing, but that wasn't the saddest part. He wished he had done it or at least owned the power and will to have done so. Then, at least, he thought, he would have the tolerance to bear with all the pressure that fell upon him. Had he been capable of taking a life, people's hatred towards him would have seemed like nothing.

Shizune sighed. "I guess I'll see you to your room then, since you're already here." Deidara noted in surprise that her voice didn't seem angry or loathing, but rather expressing sadness. Was she mourning another teen's life gone to waste?

Deidara didn't want it to be like that. He wanted to open his mouth and explain everything; explain that it hadn't been him who had killed the boy, not him who had pushed him under water and kept him from surfacing until he'd drowned. Not him who had left his body lying there at the bottom of the sea. He hadn't killed his best friend, he wanted people to understand that.

But he also knew that it was impossible and not going to happen. After all, it was his word against the jury's.

Feeling hopeless, he let out a devastated sigh and got up to his feet, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Shizune unlocked the gate and pushed it open, treading inside. Deidara followed him unenthusiastically, feeling like he was entering a prison. In many ways, that feeling was accurate.

"The building on your right is where all the classrooms are and the one on the left is for the gym, library and cafeteria," Shizune said, her voice mostly emotionless now. It would've been alright for Deidara, had he not known that she could sound happy as well.

Solemnly, he looked to his left, giving the building a skeptical look. It looked too big to be containing so few rooms, surely there had to be more. He looked back at Shizune in front of him, noticing a stadium coming into view behind her. It was situated right in the center of the campus.

As they walked across the football field, Shizune motioned towards the two remaining buildings. "On the left is the dorm for students ranked from E to C, on the right side for those ranked from B to S."

Deidara didn't quite get the system. "Ranked?" he repeated.

"There are six ranks, classifying the seriousness of the crimes a particular student has committed. The lowest rank is E, which is mostly for students with behavior issues and who are sent here by their parents. Those students don't usually stay here longer than a year. Following rank is D, then C, B, A and finally S, the highest rank."

"Which rank am I?" Deidara blurted out without thinking. He paled when he realized his mistake. Shizune cast him a serious look over her shoulder, as if to say 'you killed a human, which one do you think you are?'. Deidara looked down again.

They proceeded to the dorm on the right. The grayness surrounding Deidara never disappeared as they went up the stairs to the sixth, the highest floor. There were two floors for each rank.

Shizune led him down the hallway, passing the two bathrooms. Turning an even lighter shade of white, Deidara could feel claustrophobia crawling in on him again, flipping his stomach. He tried to force his attention away from the surrounding walls and low ceiling, focusing on the few barred windows in the walls. Not only did this place resemble a prison, it was a prison. And now also his new home.

Deidara's 'new' room turned out to be quite old, matching the rest of the place. It was at the end of the hallway, its north-facing window to the forest behind the campus. Unlike the campus, the forest looked fairly green and welcoming, seeming untouched by the dryland plague that had killed the school's territory.

Deidara let out a dreamy sigh, allowing himself some happiness before the bars he'd looked through came into focus again. He looked around in the room, taking in the depressing details of it.

The four walls were a light shade of purple, the color not standing out that much among the countless scribbles, cuts and holes in the walls. There was an empty shelf hanging beside the window, a beheaded teddy bear lying on it. The plushie was yellow with blood marks on it and a kitchen knife sticking out. Someone must've forgotten it there. Deidara wasn't particularly disturbed by it, but made a mental note to throw it into the first trashcan he came across later.

On the old wooden desk lay stacked Deidara's new - new for him – school books and clustered papers under his key for the room. Shizune picked it up and handed it to him. "It's partly a skeleton key," she said. "It won't open other dorm rooms, but will open the doors for the buildings. You see, they are usually locked."

Deidara nodded and pocketed it, sitting down on his bed that threatened to collapse any moment. Its covers looked old and itchy after being washed at least a hundred times. The list of things he wanted his mother to send to him only grew and grew.

"Before I leave you to unpack here, I'm obliged to confiscate any hazards that you might own."

Deidara automatically reached out for his pockets, but then thought it over and withdrew his hand. "What exactly are considered hazards here?"

Shizune stared at him, probably having hoped that he wouldn't ask. She then sighed and flipped to the first paper in her map. "In Otogakure no Sato Academy it's forbidden for a student to own any sharp edged objects, exempli gratia knives, sharp-edged scissors, razors, needles, box cutters; any fire producing objects, exempli gratia a lighter, matches. Firearms, cell phones, pagers and any other two-way radio devices are also prohibited."

Deidara sighed and fished out his mobile from the pocket, handing it over. It wasn't like he had anyone to call anyway, except his mom. Actually, it could've been a good thing – he didn't have to reject all the calls coming from his tactless and curious classmates and ex-friends, who'd all taken off once realizing how much the incident had messed him up. Now they were all likely to call and fake sympathy, restlessly inquiring about how exactly it all had happened to have something to tell forward.

None of them really cared about the truth, only the rumors. None of them had cared about his friend then, why should've they started caring now? They only found him interesting because he was dead now.

Deidara knew the faces they'd make at the ceremonial that the school year would start with, a ceremonial that he wasn't going to. As a rule made up by the jury and police, Deidara wasn't even allowed to attend the burial. Yet another reason why Deidara wanted to chop their heads off.

"Is that it?" Shizune asked in a surprised tone, staring at the old Nokia the boy had given her. Deidara understood that for an S-rank student, he didn't own that manyhazards and he smirked at that. He was glad that no one had thought of adding clay to the list.

He nodded, feeling free of any guilt under the skeptical gaze of the teacher.

"Oh, alright then. I suggest that you read the school rules through before leaving for class. Classes start at 12 o'clock sharp today. Also, your schedule is on the desk as well." She gave a confirmative nod, before turning around and walking out of the door, pulling it closed behind her. On the other side of the door, a chained naked woman had been carved into the wood. Deidara stared at it in disgust, suddenly feeling like killing himself.

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>

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><p><em>List of phobias mentioned:<em>

_(Deidara's mom) Allegrophobia - the fear of being late_

_(Deidara) Claustrophobia - (even though it's widely known) the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms._

_Nyctophobia - the fear of darkness_

_Social phobia - (also known as 'social anxiety disorder') is characterized by intense fear in social situations_

_Aquaphobia - the fear of water_


	2. Meet the Insanity

_Helloz, welcome to the second chap. I feel like we didn't move on with the plot that much here, but it is the same length as the last chap, so I decided that this would do quite well._

_Thank you everyone for reviewing~~ :D You're great! I wish I could reply to all of them, but I usually just don't know what to say :S And now it's kind of already too late anyway, since the new chap is up. But I'll think harder the next time xD_

_On a side note, guess who's going to take part in an international writing competition? ^~^ There are students from other countries going to compete as well, including the US and Sweden, I think, and some others that I don't quite remember... Anywayz, the ENTIRE story can be up to 2000 words (like wtf, even this chap is longer!) and I've decided to modify the first chapter of 'Token' a little, so it would be suitable for the contest :3 Wish me luck and I'll let you know when I receive my first place prize x3 Ok, jk jk. The other contestants ought to be older than me and are native English speakers and shit, so I'm most likely going to fail. But what the hell, I'll give it a try._

_Also, my art teacher saw the drawings of pirate Sasori and Deidara (that I've already uploaded on DA) and asked for my permission to hang them on the art class wall xD Obviously I agreed. SPREAD SASODEI AND MAKE IT GLOBAL! Heheh... anywayz, here's the chap:_

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 – Meet the Insanity<strong>

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><p>Deidara flipped open the black student handbook. Its cover was somewhat scary, a red pentagram over a black background, but Deidara decided to ignore it and focus on what lay inside. The first paragraph was about clothing and the dress code.<p>

The dress code varied for each rank. Not caring in the least about the other ranks, Deidara skipped to the last paragraph titled as 'S-rank'. _The students can choose their own clothes, as long as they are the colors of the S-rank – red, black and gray._ Fortunately, he'd known this in advance, so he'd packed his luggage accordingly.

The meanings of the colors had been defined; black – the color of the heart beating inside the students of this rank, red – announcing danger and warning others to stay away from them, and finally gray – the brightest possible future for them.

Deidara found this approach to changing the students for the better odd. It was more like no one believed they would ever change their ways, they just wanted to keep them captive and out of the way. 'Brightest possible future' - what was up with that?

Deidara shook his head in disbelief. There was also a formal uniform for special occasions - a black cloak with red clouds printed on it. _Artistically unique,_Deidara commented mentally.

He let his eyes run over the rest of the rules, just in case there was something important he should've known. Every rank had different rules that applied to them. Naturally, the higher the rank, the stricter the rules. Behind every rule, there was written 'punishment' and a number. Deidara quickly caught on that the bigger the number, the severer the punishment that followed breaking the rule.

For comparison, he read through other ranks' rules and punishments as well. It surprised him to find out that even when the rule was basically the same, rank S got a far severer punishment. The highest punishment level he could spot was 18. Thinking about what it could've been made Deidara's blood run cold.

He tossed the book back onto the desk. _I'll survive,_he kept assuring himself as he placed all the books on the shelf and went to unpacking his bag then. _As long as I won't go looking for trouble, I have no reason to worry about the punishments._

He pulled open the doors of the wardrobe, finding the mentioned black cloak hanging there. He pushed it to the side, loading his clothes onto the hangers. His bag of clay he tossed into the corner of the armoire.

Taking a look at his watch he'd been lucky enough to take with him, he saw that he still had many hours to go before the beginning of classes. His eyelids feeling heavy and numb, he plopped down on the bed, face first, and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

The next time he aroused, bright sun rays fell on his face, shining through the barred window. He was lying on his back and scraped his fringe out of the way, bringing his hand up to check the time. The longer hand had yet 15 minutes to tick by before the start of classes and Deidara deemed it to be a good enough time to get going.

He took his schedule from the desk and the book for American Literature, before strolling out of the room, locking up behind him. The entire hallway was empty as he paced down it, not meeting any people while walking down the staircase either.

It was only when he stepped outside that he found proof of not being the only student in school. Clusters of students were scattered about the campus, showing off the general preference of engaging in cliques rather than going solo. An instinctive way of staying alive by having a group to back you up.

Deidara felt vulnerable as he proceeded alone to the south-west building. Glancing paranoically to his right and left, he even went as far as to wish for his ex-friends and classmates to be there. They would've been convenient to hide behind at least.

Hugging his book closer to his chest, he broke into a run for the house, casting his eyes down on the ground to avoid any eye contact. He was sure he'd already gotten over his social phobia about a month ago, but even so starting a conversation with a maniac didn't sound appalling.

He figured his best choice would've been to take advantage of the rank he was in and act like a serial killer, all gloomy with a dark aura surrounding him. But as he tried to force a confident expression on his face and raise his chin, he understood that he felt too shaken up for any of that. Hiding his face behind his fringe, he entered the building, making his way to the third floor where class 307 was supposed to be.

He mentally bashed himself for not reading the descriptions of the dress codes of other ranks. Being able to recognize each rank would've spared him a lot of worrying while treading through the hallways, maneuvering between students and trying to avoid any physical contact. At least he could tell apart the most dangerous from the rest of the student body – they were wearing the same color clothes as him.

Finally finding the class with the right number on it, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. Halting in the doorway to look for a place to seat, he felt relieved when realizing that no one had noticed him entering. But after letting his eyes roam over the students talking, he understood that this wasn't because of his rare luck. No one noticed a_nyone_outside their clique. And even though this could've proven to be a good think as to keep him out of trouble, Deidara still felt lonely at the thought of it.

Looking to the side, he eyed the group of seven people clustered around a table at the back of the classroom. Two of them, a redheaded boy and a blue-haired girl, were sitting on the desk, engaged in a lively conversation with the others. The boy was fair-skinned, his facial features doll-like. There were dark circles under his eyes, as though he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Stopping at that thought, Deidara wondered what his own eyes must've looked like.

The girl on the left had short blue hair, and was sitting crossed legged in her mini-skirt. _One wrong movement and her panties would show_, Deidara thought. But he didn't think the girl would've been bothered by that, or else she wouldn't have dressed so exposingly, right?

Her eyelids were covered in heavy dark make-up, the black labret piercing making her a great match for the boy in front of her who she was holding hands with. The boy had spiky reddish hair and several silver piercings decorating his face. Deidara thought that he looked good, although not as good as the first redhead sitting on the desk.

Standing as part of the half circle around the desk was a pink-haired girl in the arms of a gloomy-looking male, next to them two more boys acting like a couple. One of them had smooth silver hair, the gray button-up shirt hanging open over his bare chest. The other one, a little taller male, was wearing a black mouth mask and had his hands around the other boy's waist. Deidara almost sighed with relief, now knowing that he wasn't the only gay in school.

Gazing at the group, he couldn't stop his eyes from focusing only on the doll-like redhead sitting on the desk. His features seemed so smooth and welcoming, yet so strong and dangerous. It wasn't hard to imagine him as a murderer. Yet, Deidara found himself not bothered by it. Was the nature of the students here growing on him already?

Deidara forced himself to blink once and the others in the group came back to focus as well. He hadn't noticed it at first, but they were all dressed in S-rank clothes. So the image of the redhead, with a knife covered in blood, he'd imagined, had probably not been so far from the truth. That boy was here for the same thing as he.

"YO! HIDAN!" a blond boy from the other side of the class yelled, catching the attention of the S-rank students', including Deidara's. He had clothes of different colors on, belonging to a lower rank. "YOU GONNA BREAK THE RECORD AGAIN THIS YEAR?" The boy gave an idiotic grin that still looked mildly formidable in a lunatic way.

There was no answer given in response and the classroom that had fallen into silence for a moment, filled with chatter again. The S-rank group turned their heads back to each other, ignoring their blond classmate. Deidara glanced at the blond briefly, seeing as he was chuckling and already talking to a cluster of people in the same rank as him. Being ignored didn't seem to bother him in the least. Maybe he'd meant it as a mocking rhetorical question and Deidara just hadn't caught on?

Deidara shifted his eyes back to the cute redhead he'd found. His heart skipped a beat when his eyes met a couple of dark brown ones. They looked deep and with great depth, inviting the blond to drown in them. Seducing, captivating and formidable at the same time, Deidara felt his face flush red, when he finally caught on that the redhead was looking straight at him.

Quickly, he cast his eyes down, feeling embarrassment. Deciding that he'd stayed in one place for long enough, he went to sit down behind the nearest desk, hoping that it didn't belong to someone else. He could sense the eyes on him, staring at his back, and made sure to keep his gaze down. So much for building a redoubtable reputation; that blush was sure to leave a mark on him for the rest of his time there.

The door swung open and two adults walked in, one male and one female. The man went to sit down behind the teacher's desk, while the woman stopped in front of the class, letting her bored eyes run over the students. Working with maniac teenagers couldn't have been anyone's dream.

"Hm, I'm the school psychotherapist and I'm going to need the new students to come to my office one by one. It's in the south-east building on the second floor at the end of the hallway. Hard to miss. I'll take one of you with me now, the others have to come by alone. So, is Deidara Iwaga here?"

It took Deidara some time to understand that his name was just called. He raised his hand, feeling slight discomfort at the others knowing his name now. The woman nodded and motioned for him to get up. He did, taking his book with him after a split second debate and followed the woman out of the classroom.

Before exiting the door, he chanced one last glance at the redhead. He was looking away, proving all Deidara's fears of being watched before wrong. A shrink could've been exactly what he needed.

Deidara was ushered to the office in the south-east building, as promised, and sat down on a rather uncomfortable chair while the woman plopped down on an armchair opposite to him. The walls of the room were plain white, looking like in a hospital which hadn't been renovated in decades. An old uncurtained window with dirty glass opened to the road leading back to the city where Deidara had come from.

The woman flipped through the papers in her hands, while Deidara sat there in silence. He wanted to make as good of an impression as possible, even though there would be no point. Just because people _thought_he was a ruined teenager, didn't mean he should've necessarily acted like one.

"Madara Tobi, yes?" she said, looking up from her papers. "The victim?"

Deidara paled instantly, feeling his heart clench. Hearing his best friend's name mentioned in such a casual tone made him shudder, queasiness filling him and making his stomach heave. His body tensed up, hands gripping the edges of the seat. A drop of sweat rand down his pale forehead.

"I didn't kill him," he whispered without thinking, staring at the woman wide-eyed. She gave a humorless snort, acting like everyone else had before. "I swear I-"

The shrink waved him off, not letting him finish. "Drop the act. I'm a therapist, not the police. Now tell me truth, why did you do it?"

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" Deidara burst out, standing up halfway from the chair. His hands were clenched into fists, a tear of anger running down his cheek.

The shrink nodded calmly and wrote something down on her paper, appearing to be used to cases like this. Deidara watched her, the back of his throat burning. She didn't believe him, no one did. How could he have been so stupid to even dream about it?

He lowered his head, letting the bang fall back in front of his face. He sat down, staring at the floor. The one tear that had fallen, dripped off his chin onto his t-shirt, leaving an unnoticeable mark on the black fabric. He tangled his fingers and bent forward, leaning against his legs and letting his head drop.

"So, who exactly was this… _Tobi?"_

Deidara's body tensed and he bit his lip, not coming out from behind his curtain of hair. There was no point in him being there with her. It wasn't going to change anything. And he wasn't going to spill his story to some random chick, if even thinking about that day filled him with anguish. She could go fuck herself.

The woman waited patiently, but seeing as the boy had no intentions of speaking, she did instead. "Okay, while you think, I will talk. My name is Aimi. What you're forced to go through now is a check-up compulsory to every new student. Basically, it's up to me to decide whether you should be given any special treatment or not-"

"There's nothing wrong with me," Deidara said, amending the sentence in his mind to '_You won't be able to cure me.'_

Aimi's voice was particularly sharp when she spoke, "I can see that you haven't lost your tongue. Could you, please, answer my question, so that I could decide on that?"

_You can go rot in a ditch,_Deidara thought, but didn't say anything. He just wanted to get out of there. How long would she keep him there after figuring out he wasn't going to answer?

"Just letting you know that not answering is punishable," Aimi said matter-of-factly, tapping her pen against her thigh. She knew most of the weak spots of the students.

Deidara got the hint. For a minute he thought it over, before sighing and giving up. "A friend," he whispered, his voice managing to crack even with only one word. His face was still hidden behind the bang and he could feel another load of tears coming up. His voice had been quiet and barely audible.

The shrink seemed to have heard him, though, as she nodded thoughtfully. "What happened?"

It was the obvious question that everybody had been wanting to know since day one. Deidara had known this would be coming, yet he couldn't stop his nails from digging into his skin to draw away the piercing pain striking in his heart.

"I can't talk about it," he said after a pause. His throat clamped shut after that.

"I see." The shrink nodded and scribbled something down. Her casual tone gave off the impression like she wasn't taking any of it seriously. She wasn't solemn, she didn't look concerned. She was merely doing his job, even though she didn't really care what was wrong with the boy. There was no sincere pity in her voice when she spoke. Deidara was glad for that. He'd endured enough sympathy the last two months to last him a lifetime.

"I'm going to have to ask you to start coming here weekly, Deidara. Does Thursday night work for you?"

Deidara raised his head, covering his face with his hands and resting his elbows on his knees in a ohmigod-you're-fucking-kidding-me manner. "I don't need no frigging-"

"Of course it works," Aimi said, setting the papers on the table and flashing him a fake sweet smile. "I'll see you again on Thursday at 4 pm. Please, be kind enough to send the next one in and close the door after you leave. Goodbye for now."

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>

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><p>Hahaha, I got rid of Tobi before the first chap xD All possible annoyance avoided. Btw, try guessing who exactly where the students Deidara saw...? :D (I bet the hardest one to guess is the mysterious doll-like redhead xD)<p> 


	3. Introductions

_TOKIO HOTEL WON THE MMM! :D Lol, that was so random._

_Anywhoz, thank you all for reviewing~~! I hope you enjoy it._

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 - Introductions<strong>

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><p>Hands in pockets, Deidara trod along the path from the south-east building back to the schoolhouse. His gaze was on the ground, his thoughts in a whirl. He found it hard coping with everything new. Looking back now, he understood what a drastic transition he'd gone through in the past year.<p>

He'd used to be a sincerely happy child. A _child,_before people began treating him as a degenerated adult. In the past year, his uncle had died, his mother had begun smoking and drinking again, his best friend had been _killed_and he'd been found guilty. There was only so much one could take before losing one's mind.

Deidara felt himself becoming numb. He'd begun questioning his existence, his life. What was he living for? Spending time on Earth by merely _existing_seemed like a horrible waste of time to him.

But he couldn't leave this world either. Even if there was no one else who would've cared, there was his mother. A single parent who'd raised him for all these years, he owed her something. If he died, she would die as well. She'd never survive losing her only child.

Deidara had never had a father. Mother said he'd died in a car accident or something. Deidara hadn't inquired much, his mother would always become depressed and leave the house after that. Mentioning his father had become a taboo for both of them.

Deidara sighed. His own brain irked him. Whenever he tried to think about something good in his life that would be important to him, he flashed to the redheaded doll-like boy he'd seen sitting on the table among the other S-rank students. His fair skin, dark eyes, solemn look – everything about him invited Deidara in.

He looked like one of the bad boys people usually advised to stay away from, yet Deidara couldn't bring himself to care about it. He knew that he would've preferred to be broken by him than to never get to be with him at all. And he was already imagining them as a couple.

Ridiculous. He'd already managed to fall for the guy (only for his look, mark that!), before he'd heard him say a word. Without knowing a single thing about him, he was already dreaming about him like crazy! That was not rational. Deidara wanted to shove those thoughts back to whatever nasty corner of his mind they had come from.

_But he looks so dreamy,_a tempting voice in Deidara's head sang, making him want to clamp his ears shut.

_Stay away from me, you're crazy!_Deidara hissed in response.

_Oh, but giving it a try would not hurt, do you not agree? One small attempt to get closer to him,_the voice lilted, eating up Deidara's mature way of thinking. _Try becoming friends with him, talking to him… You can't deny that you would enjoy that!_

_I guess I could try_talking_to him, since I'm already stuck in this place,_Deidara agreed, making faces at his own thoughts. He was actually having a conversation within himself.

_And then maybe it could turn into something much more…_

Before Deidara could scream out loud at the voice to shut up, he heard another voice shout from behind him. "HEY BLONDIE!"

Deidara swirled around, his eyes widening with surprise when he saw the other redhead from the group sprinting towards him. He had a red jacket wrapped around his shoulders, the end of it flapping in the air as he ran. Deidara stopped, waiting for him.

"You mean me?" he asked the boy as he approached. His voice may have come out a little bit colder than he'd planned, but the redhead didn't seem to notice. He clamped his hand down on his shoulder, bending downwards and taking a deep breath before standing up straight and looking the blond in the eye.

He nodded, "Yeah, unless you can direct me to another blonde nearby."

Dumbly, Deidara glanced around him, his stupidity becoming obvious to himself when he realized that there was no one beside them outside. "Oh," he said, averting his eyes to the ground. "Hey."

The redhead gave a loud laugh, patting the blond's back and motioning for them to continue walking. He removed his hand from Deidara's back and shoved them into his pockets as they proceeded, Deidara feeling thankful for that. He awkwardly lowered his gaze again, hiding his face behind his bang. He still didn't feel comfortable talking to strangers, he realized.

Suddenly, he became very self-conscious, remembering that this redhead was friends with _his_doll-redhead. Nothing could've made him act more awkward than the will to leave a good impression to a friend of his crush. His whole body tensed up, keeping in mind his every move. A blush tinted both of his cheeks deep red.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're Deidara, am I right?" the redhead said, his tone casual and easy. Deidara was surprised by the friendliness the boy gave off; he'd never imagined finding someone like that in a _reform_school. The sudden distraction from his thoughts made the blush disappear as he looked at him. The redhead's curious glance reminded him that he was supposed to say something.

"Um… yeah, I mean, yes. Name's Deidara," he stuttered, shrinking on the inside in embarrassment of not being able to speak properly.

The redhead nodded, looking in front of him. "I'm Pein."

Deidara paused mid-step, casting the boy an uncertain look. Was he mocking him? The boy noticed this and laughed again. He didn't sound like he was trying to make fun of him, Deidara thought, but couldn't be sure either. It didn't surprise anyone that he had trouble trusting people.

"It's a nickname I've been given by our fellow schoolmates," the boy explained.

Deidara wasn't going to ask why. He didn't want to ruin his pleasant image of the boy. Giving a slight nod, he continued walking.

"So, what are you in here for?" Pein questioned, looking at the blond. Deidara felt like in a prison, talking with another convict about their crimes. '_So, how much did they give you?' 'Five years, you?' 'Six, but my cousin's promised to come bail me out.' 'Ooh, you'll get away from this hellhole.'_These two places were so similar, it wasn't hard drawing parallels between them.

Automatically, Deidara had quickly turned his head away before the boy could see the change in his expression. Despite the frequency this question had been asked that day, he couldn't help paling every time he was forced to think about it. He remained silent.

Pein took it as a hint. "I see. You're one of _them."_

"One of what?"

"One of the people who won't share their story. There are only so many of them here, Zet is the only one who knows everyone's secrets."

Pein's explanation made nothing clearer for the blond. His face cringed into a question mark as he looked at him. "The what and the who?"

Pein started explaining, "Zet is one of the twins. He has access to everyone's profiles, that's why he knows the story behind everyone here."

"What twins?" Deidara still didn't get it. Things had almost added up, aside from the name mentioned that made the story confusing.

"There are two twins in this hellhole – Zet and Su. They're both A-rank. Zet is known for getting information, while Su can get everything else."

This explanation seemed a bit hazy, pieces of information having been left out. Was that intentional? Deidara didn't like to inquire much, yet he couldn't keep himself from asking, "What is _everything?"_

"_Anything,"_Pein replied, his gaze away from the blond full stop in the sentence was clear – there would be no more dwelling on that topic. Deidara was looking at the ground as they walked up the stairs to their classroom. They had two classes of American Literature in a row, so Deidara didn't need to go back to his dorm room for other books.

The cluster of the S-rank was still in the same spot as before, now missing one member who was standing next to Deidara. Pein took a seat on the edge of the blond's desk, Deidara coming to a stop with him. They both looked in the same direction, Deidara feeling like bashing himself for allowing his eyes to search for the scorpion – a random nickname he'd come up for the doll-like redhead.

"This may surprise you, but that's it for the students in S-rank," Pein said, Deidara not really paying attention to him. His eyes were on the scorpion. "Most students are in other ranks. Didn't make it to the top." Pein gave a low chuckle, laughing at his own joke.

He glanced at the blond, finding him nodding absentmindedly. He raised an eyebrow, following the blond's gaze. What he saw were the redhead and the blue-haired girl sitting on the table. His eyes narrowed as he misinterpreted Deidara's stare.

"That's Konan, but she's off the market," he said, letting coldness enter his voice for the first time. Deidara blinked out of the daze, looking back at Pein. "What, who? The girl?"

Pein's solemn gaze frightened him. It took him a moment to put two and two together. Once he'd come to the right conclusion, an embarrassed smile spread across his lips. He felt his cheeks heat up and he averted his eyes to the ground, letting his fringe shield his blush.

"I wasn't looking at her," he said in a small voice. Pein blinked, his expression clearing as he gazed back at the girl. Then his eyes shifted to the redhead next to her and his lips twitched into a smile. A low chuckle escaped his mouth and Deidara shyly looked up.

"Batting for the other team, I see."

Deidara stiffed, his whole face turning deep red. Folding his arms, he turned his head away dramatically, whacking Pein with his long blonde hair. Pein laughed amusedly, moving back out of the hair swinging radius.

"Chill, dude," he said appeasingly. "That's no one to make a fuss about. That's just Sasori."

Deidara glanced back on the alert, seeing as the other male was willing to share information about the scorpion. "Go on," he urged, eyes narrowed in a challenge for Pein to make up for his bluntness.

Pein shrugged. "Not much to tell you about. He's in here for killing his grandmother," he said in a casual tone, while there was a shiver running down Deidara's back. "If you're interested, go talk to him."

_Go talk to him? That's your advice? I'll make a fucking fool out of myself!_Deidara faked a smile over his shoulder, his back still on Pein. "Maybe later. Who are the others?"

Pein looked over at them. "The one with the mouth mask is Kakuzu and in his arms is his boyfriend Hidan. I recommend that you don't pick a fight with them. They're a little… harsh."

Deidara nodded. He hadn't thought they looked friendly either. "What are they in here for?" he asked.

Pein shrugged. "Beats me. Go ask Zet, if you're curious, although I doubt he'll give you any info." Deidara didn't say anything, only gazed at them. Pein continued, "The pink-haired girl is Tayuya, Hidan's younger sister. The one that just kissed her is Itachi. He's in here for killing his whole family."

Deidara's eyes went wide. "What the fuck?" _His_whole _family?_

Pein remained indifferent. "Not exactly everyone. He didn't kill his younger brother. Sasuke is the one standing in the left corner next to that blond boy," – he pointed at a boy dressed in blue and black, whose black hair was curved upwards with gel – "he's in A-rank for an attempt to kill Itachi. Almost succeeded. Itachi was in hospital for two weeks."

Deidara deemed this place to be officially fucked up. His face wasn't capable of giving forward the emotions he felt inside. The older brother killing the family and then the younger brother trying to kill the older brother and then both ending up in a reform school? Sounded like out of some bad action movie.

"Is scorp-, I mean, Sasori single?" Deidara couldn't help but ask. His gaze was on the scorpion, but darted back to Pein the moment he saw Sasori move his head, in fear of getting caught staring again.

"As far as I'm concerned, yeah. He isn't much of a 'relationship' type. More of a one night stand guy. Don't get your hopes up, chances are that he's not what you're looking for. There's a reason he's single."

Deidara looked like he'd just swallowed something extremely sour. That was just what he needed – someone telling him that the spark he'd found in his life was not right for him._Thank you, from the bottom of my heart._

The introduction ended with the ringing of the loud school bell_._

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>

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><p><em>Heheh, Sakuraphobes, see, it wasn't Sakura? I think she's in A or B rank. Hooked up with... Ino, maybe? Sasuke? I'll think about it. Anywhoz,<em>TAYUYA IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTERS EVER._So next time, if you read my stories and spot a 'pink-haired girl', chances are it's Tayuya. Sakura... is just there to fill the empty space. I don't care much about her. She's boring, unless she's OOC. Imho. Idk. Lol._


	4. Invitation

_I'm going to do something I haven't done in a LONG time. I'm going t write a disclaimer. Here it goes.__I do not own Naruto._

_Now, Solipsism - is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist._

_Also, I feel that the introduction part is slowly starting to wind up and starting in the next chapter, you'll be welcomed to my lunatic imagination, if you catch my drift._

_OC ALERT in this chap. (The first time there are going to be OCs in my stories that are actually a little important)_

_Thank you everyone who has reviewed~~! I try updating as often as possible (despite the lack of time on my hands) and will even go as far as to take my stone-age laptop to school where my classmates are playing FIFA 12 on their freakishly new comps. But I have a perfect comeback to 'is that piece of shit YOURS?', one that won't leave me looking like a loser : "Well, yeah. I do have a HP ENVY 17 at home, but I didn't want to make y'all jelly by showing it off at school, y'know?'_

_Also-ALSO, I had this really weird idea of creating kind of an 'author's page' on fb or sth, for the original books that I'm writing. If there are people who'd be interested in getting various info about them (revealing the summary, previews, character designs done by my sweetie CookieDarkness as I'm writing them and finally, whether they'd be available in stores as well or sth. wishful thinker lol), it would be a lot easier to stay in touch and communicate that way. Y'know what I mean? IF there is anyone who thinks the idea is worth something, lemme know, otherwise, I probs won't bother. Btw, I'm working on a novel based on 'Will you save me?'_

_AND FINALLY, as much as I love reviews, it's kind of sad when they're anon and I can't reply to them, SOO~~ to THE REPLIES ANONS THAT REVIEWED:_

_anon: I thank you from the bottom of my heart, you're too sweet~~ And see? I did!_

_Envyyy: I do know now, thank you for letting me know! :D I hope this chapter will do~~_

_Sozzy for the long ass A/N. Heh. Here's the chap:_

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 - Invitation<strong>

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><p>When the bell finally rung, Deidara thought he was going to drop off dead. He already felt like a zombie, and there were still<em>four hours<em>to go! He sighed heavily and pushed the chair back, standing up and grabbing his books off the desk.

A nudge into his ribs made him look to the right, finding Pein standing there, blocking the way of people who were trying to get through to the door. An irritated sigh sounded from behind him and a girl decided to climb over the desk. The boy following her made it easier for the others by just pushing the desk out of place, enlarging the aisle. The others followed his footsteps.

Pein ignored them completely, his attention focused on the blond boy. "You coming with us?"

"Where?" Deidara asked, standing still as Pein was blocking his way also. "And who is 'us'?"

"To the canteen. And I know someone else who is going there with us, if you catch my drift," Pein said suggestively, winking at him with a snide smile. Without waiting for an answer, he turned around, heading for the door, leaving Deidara looking after him dumbly. Eh? Come again?

It was only when the other S-rank students passed Deidara, one of them brushing gently against his arm, that he actually caught on. His face lit up immediately, mouth becoming wide with a smile. That was until he felt someone else bump into him, this time, not so gently.

He was pushed against the desk, causing him to drop his books. Bewildered, he snapped his head towards the attacker, seeing the scorpion calmly continuing to walk towards the door as though nothing had happened, Konan, Itachi and Tayuya following him.

None of them even glanced in his direction. Their behavior seemed to hint that they were ranked too high to notice trash like him. God damn it, he was in the same rank as they! What made him different, aside from the fact that he was new there?

Deidara shook his head, hiding behind his fringe again. "What the fuck?" he muttered under his breath, walking out the door as the last student to leave. He'd learnt that there were lockers on the first floor where students could drop off their books in between classes. Convenient.

Shoving his hands into his pockets – a habit of his when he wanted to keep a low profile – he made his way to the south-east building. The hallways were wide and gray with large windows in the walls, packed with students Deidara disregarded. When he stepped inside, he found three hallways leading in different directions, in addition to the staircase on the left, which led both up and down.

He knew where the shrink's office was – unfortunately – and from what he'd gathered, he guessed the gym was on the second floor, but he didn't have a clue about the whereabouts of the canteen. People were roaming from left to right, from right to left, up and down, down and up, like they had nothing better to do than to confuse him.

It surprised him how self-centered he'd become. Everything seemed to revolve around him, he saw people's actions as ways to affect him. Taking steps towards solipsism, perhaps? Taking a deep breath as a way to compose himself, he patted on the closest passer-by's shoulder, making them turn around. The chosen one was a purple-haired girl with a lip-piercing and a tattoo covering the left side of her neck.

"Hm, where's the canteen?" Deidara asked stoically, trying to seem as cold and calm as possible. The girl blinked. Momentarily, her gaze wondered down to his outfit, before darting up again to meet his eyes. She jerked her thumb at the center hallway, before turning on her heel and taking off. Deidara raised his eyebrow, surprised by her behavior.

Brushing it off, he started walking in the given direction, maneuvering past the other students. Now that he'd witnessed the scorpion's attitude - acting like an asshole and bumping into him and walking away as though nothing had happened - he wondered whether Pein's advice had been that judgmental after all. Maybe there was more to the scorpion that he didn't want to know about?

Was he really anxious to see the scorpion in the canteen, even after what had happened? Deidara stopped in the middle of the hallway, trying to make sense of his feelings. Yes, indeed he was. Very anxious. Flipping his bang to stay out of his right eye, he continued walking.

From there on, it wasn't difficult finding the canteen. A hallway with red floor and white walls greeted him along with the line of students waiting in the cue for lunch. He joined the queue behind a bunch of girls.

Leaning against the wall, he couldn't help gazing at the girls as there was nothing else for him to do in the line. There were four of them – one redhead, two blondes and one brunette. The redhead had short spiky hair and _many_piercings in her ear. Her facial features were strong and sharp, her body seeming thin and bony. The black button-up shirt she was wearing emphasized the narrowness of her shoulders, giving her an anorexic look. Her face was pale and eyes coal black.

The brunette next to her had long wavy hair that was pulled up in a ponytail. Her creamy skin and green eyes gave her a pleasant and friendly look that didn't quite fit into a reform school. She was dressed in a dark blue button-up shirt and a black, not too short, flared skirt. She was the tallest of the four and looked the most mature.

The two blondes were the exact opposites to each other. One of them had peach blonde thin hair that fell straight down her back. Her face was covered in make-up – blood-red lips lined with a black pencil, thick eyelashes, thin arched light-brown eyebrows and panda eye make-up. Deidara found her look cool, even though he would've never been interested in her. She was tall as well, and thin, wearing a black leather zip up dress with blue sleeves and stiletto boots. The skin above the boots was covered by fishnets.

The other blonde was much shorter due to wearing checkered slip-ons instead of heels. She had a tomboy look; her face was clear of make-up, her sandy blonde hair loosely falling down her back. She was dressed in a pair of dark jeans with knee holes, a blue T-shirt with an O-neck and a checkered necktie hanging down to her stomach.

"I heard it was supposed to be on the sixth floor tonight," the redhead answered to the question Deidara hadn't heard. "In the trio's room."

"Where else?" the blonde with make-up on commented, rolling her eyes dramatically.

"Um, guys," the tomboy blonde started, looking ill at ease as she'd cast her look on the floor. "Is _he_going to be there?"

"Who?" the redhead asked the same time the other blonde rolled her eyes again and said, "Of _course_he is, since it's his room. You still have so much to catch up on, Kei."

The tomboy girl was called Kei, Deidara made a mental note and listened on.

"Who is she talking about?" the redhead asked again, patting on the girly blonde's shoulder to catch her attention. "Hm, Setsu? Who?" The other blonde's name was Setsu, apparently.

Setsu turned around, pinching the bridge of her nose. She seemed to be the hotheaded one, the type to overreact easily. "Oh, she's been going on about Sasori ever since I showed her his picture last winter. Can you believe it, she actually beat the shit out of a seven-year old boy to get in here and to see him?"

Deidara felt something sharp pierce through him and it didn't take him long to figure out what it was that made him hate the tomboy, Kei. No, it wasn't the fact that she'd attacked someone much smaller than her. It was competition. Suddenly, Deidara felt really self-conscious. He was really not good in love games, never had been. How could he compete with a _girl?_God damn it, he felt like he was losing already.

As the conversation went on, Deidara grew more and more irritated at the girl, his mood below zero in a flash. _Moronic fangirl, go rot in a ditch._

"Oh right, you're new here, Kei. I keep forgetting," the brunette said, giving a light-hearted laugh that lived up to her friendly appearance. "So you probably don't know this, but Sasori is in a so called trio, together with Itachi and Pein. Do you know them?"

"Yeah."

Deidara took the info about the trio as valuable information that needed to be remembered. The cue had gotten shorter and he'd reached the door of the canteen. He grabbed a tray off the pile next to the counters and set it down on the counter, pushing it forward as he moved. The girls were still talking.

"Wait, is it going to be a party or what?" Kei asked, looking like an immature child next to the other girls. Her ignorance made her look somewhat innocent and naïve, the newest additions to Deidara's list of 'personalities that piss me off'.

The redhead snorted, placing a can of diet coke on her tray. "No, we're going to drink tea like the British men we are."

Setsu laughed at this, Kei putting on a slight pout at the joke. "Ha ha, _very_ funny, Chika."

_The redhead is Chika_, Deidara noted, picking an apple from the green bowl on the counter and moving on.

"You're too naïve to be a devil, Kei," Setsu said, piling salad onto her plate. Deidara had already taken everything he wanted – a glass of cherry juice, an apple and salad – but didn't want to leave yet, since it seemed like there would be some more info to come, so he pretended to be busy as the girls went on.

"A devil?"

Setsu let out a loud irritated sigh, growing tired of the other blonde's endless inquiring. To spare all of them another load of sarcastic comments, the brunette spoke instead. "Students in ranks from S to B are called the devils."

Setsu chuckled. "While the ones in rank C and below are called angels."

Kei made a surprised face. "Why?"

Deidara rolled his eyes; even he could figure it out. Why was that bitch so stupid? The scorpion would've had to be just as stupid, if he was really going to fall for her. That thought soothed Deidara a little, although her distaste for Kei never faded.

"Partly because of their ridiculous white uniform pants," the brunette said, chuckling.

Setsu shook her head. "That's just you, Hatsu." – _Hatsu, the brunette. -_ "Mostly, because they were angelic enough to not be able to climb up to the same level as us." Her tone was mocking; Deidara wasn't sure whether she actually meant it or whether she was just joking and trying to be funny.

Deidara repeated the names in his head to memorize them. _Setsu, the goth blonde. Kei, the blonde tomboy fucker who dreams of having a chance with my scorpion._Deidara actually grimaced at her name. _Chika, the girl with short red hair and many piercings in her ear. Hatsu, the brunette, looking the most mature._

Deidara decided that he'd had enough of the conversation and left the counter. There were only a few desks occupied by teachers in the same room, but an open double door led to the rest of the canteen. That room was about ten times the size of the first room with counters and food.

The walls were boring white, the tiled floor a colour somewhere between gray and purple. Next to the door against the wall was a line of counters that went on till the coffee machine standing against the side wall. On the counter were baskets of bread and white bread on it, along with a few jugs of lemon water.

Across the room, in the left corner were shelves for the dishes and a trash can for the leftovers. The rest of the room consisted only of round tables and chairs, with the exception of a few square tables against the walls.

Deidara gazed around unsurely, not knowing where to sit. All the tables seemed to be full. Well, not _all_of them, but Deidara didn't exactly want to go sit down with a bunch of whores, or a bunch of homicidal-looking gangsters, or with we-have-no-idea-how-gross-PDA-is couples. And that pretty much singled out all the tables.

Sighing, Deidara started walking towards the whores, deeming them to be more tolerable than the rest, when a whistle from across the room made him snap his head up. He looked around for a second, before noticing Pein waving at him from a table of S-rank students. Acting on their own, Deidara's eyes scanned the people in that table, finding the scorpion almost immediately.

He had sunk his teeth into an apple at that moment, taking a big bite out of it, before looking down on the table. The corner of his mouth curved upwards a little and his body shook as he chuckled, his look affecting Deidara like a drug. He felt his jaw drop open.

Then there was the whistle again that managed to bring the blond back to Earth. He looked back at Pein who had raised his eyebrows at him, gesturing for him to join them in the table. As much as Deidara really, _really_wanted to do exactly as he was told, he _really, really_didn't. Trying to imagine himself at that table, he flashed to him sitting there and blushing, eyes cast down. What a perfect way to make a fool out of himself and then spend the following night kicking himself for it.

But Pein didn't leave him alone. It had already begun feeling weird just standing there, but it was the redhead shouting his name over the canteen that made Deidara start moving and make his way across the room to the table. Gingerly, he plopped down on the empty chair next to Pein, setting his tray down on the table. He felt his cheeks tint red when thinking about what impression he must've left and he cast his gaze on his legs, acting just like he'd imagined.

"What is that bundle of nerves doing in S-rank?" Deidara heard someone say. The tone irked him and he glanced up. The bluenette, Konan, was looking at him with an insolent expression, playing with the glass in front of her.

A weird, growling noise came out of Deidara's mouth before he could stop it and he hissed, "None of your business."

The table quieted for a moment and Deidara noticed self-consciously how Sasori looked up from the table at him. _What did I just say? Scratch that, KILL ME NOW,_Deidara screeched in his mind, his face heating up again. Embarrassed to the core, he cast his gaze down.

"This one seems to be fucked up. I like him and I shall keep him." Deidara looked up again, seeing the pink-haired girl – _Tayuya? –_smirking at him. Deidara blinked, breaking the eye contact for a split second. He stared into the girl's eyes, her words confusing him.

It was only when a hand came up to her chin, jerking it and making her look behind her that Deidara noticed the girl was sitting on Itachi's lap. The dark-haired boy was gripping her chin was only for a moment, though, before Tayuya slapped his hand away and broke free. "Oh cut it out, emo Romeo. This fucker is interested in girls just as much as I am interested in getting kicked off a cliff."

"And you would know how...?" Konan quirked an eyebrow, resting her chin on her hands and giving the other girl a sceptical look. "From your own experience?"

"Whore-ish bitch, _please._It should've been obvious to anyone by the way Blondie was staring at Sassy before. Use your eyes, bitch, since you obviously don't have a brain."

The careless reference to him staring at the scorpion made Deidara want to strangle the girl right then and there, but he somehow managed to brush it off with an oblivious look. Trying his best to look as ignorant as possible, he stared at the cat fight wide-eyed, acting as though the girls' way of interacting had been the only thing to catch his attention. _Whatever you do, do_not _look away now. The scorpion. . . do NOT look at the scorpion!_

"Anyways, Blondie," Pein broached, disregarding the girls fighting. "You coming to the welcome party tonight?"

Deidara felt safe about glancing at Pein as he was sitting in the opposite direction to Sasori. Without wasting time at asking why it was called the '_welcome_party' and what was going to be happening, he decided to be straightforward. "What time?"

"Starts at seven o'clock."

There was no thinking about it, of _course_he was going. There was no other way, he had to use the chance he was given. After all, who knew when he would've gotten another chance with the scorpion? "I'll be there."

-x-

The rest of the lunch break had gone on quite smoothly – no one had been asking unnecessary questions from Deidara and he hadn't had more reasons for blushing, except for the fact that the scorpion had been sitting in a meter's range. He still considered the break a success.

The rest of the classes dragged on at a snail's pace, but once they were over, the stabs of anticipation threatened to kill the blond boy. He rushed to his dorm room, ditching his books on the desk and bolting for his wardrobe. There was no way in _hell_he'd be losing to someone like the Kei tomboy bitch.

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	5. Party

_**People, could you please take the new poll on my profile? Just to make sure you answer honestly, I feel the need to mention that I can't see who voted for what, so feel free to vote negatively without the fear of me finding out that you did it. Lol.**_

_Aside from that, sorry for the late update. I'm a little messed up and things aren't going that well, so please forgive me. Buut~~ the plot is picking up ^^ It's getting a little difficult to keep the characters realistic, though, but I try. Maybe I'm putting myself under too much pressure. Tell me whether you liked the chap, 'kay? ^_^ It's rather long~~_

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 - Party<strong>

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><p>Once Deidara had stepped out of his room, it wasn't hard finding the room where the party was held. Booming music filled the hallway and Deidara was certain it could be heard outside as well. Ignoring his ears' warning 'do NOT go there!', he strolled down the hallway to the other end of it. He picked the door that seemed to hide the source of the sound and knocked on it.<p>

The door was opened and for a moment, Deidara genuinely thought his ear drums would break. The music was so loud! He fought back the urge to cover his ears and run. Blowing out a breath, he pushed his bang to the side and looked up. In the doorway stood Pein, of course.

"It's about time you came around. For a moment there I thought you had chickened out," Pein snickered, inviting the blond in. As Deidara entered, he couldn't even hear the door closing behind him. He gazed around, taking in the room. He found it difficult to keep his face expressionless.

It was quite dark and people were dancing/staggering in the center of the room. He could hear someone screaming over the loud music, but didn't know where it was coming from. Dozens of empty bottles covered the floor, people ignoring and stepping over or on them.

The size of the room was huge. Deidara guessed that the walls separating three rooms had been taken down for this. The bed, shelves and desks that had to be _somewhere_in the room were hard to spot in the mass of people and piles of trash.

Deidara's eyes wandered around in search of the scorpion, but couldn't find him. He almost jumped when he heard someone say to his ear: "The show is about to start." He twisted his neck and saw Pein standing next to him, a wide grin on his face. He offered the blond a can of beer and Deidara took it without hesitation.

"What show?" he asked, but the words were inaudible in the sudden boom of cheers. Deidara's eyes widened a great deal when he saw a large wooden table being carried in. The table itself wasn't anything, it was what was _on_it. Deidara gaped, not knowing whether he should've vomited or fainted. Surprisingly, he didn't do either of them, only stared.

On the table was Hidan – if he remembered the name correctly – naked above waist. His hands and legs were tied to the table and his chest and stomach were covered with cuts and… _lots of blood._His eyes were closed and Deidara doubted whether he was even conscious. The table was turned so that it stood like a wall, leaving the beaten man for all to see clearly. Deidara felt his stomach turn upside down and he covered his mouth with his hand.

"What is that?" he asked but no one heard him. When he looked to the side he saw that Pein had already left him. He had stepped next to Kakuzu who was standing by the table, holding a long black whip in his hand. Deidara knew he would regret doing it, yet he couldn't stop his eyes from running along the whip. The black braided leather was dripping with blood, leaving small drops on the floor.

Deidara saw the whip rising from the floor and jumped at the loud smacking sound that went with the leather being wielded against the silver-haired man. Hidan's eyes flew open and he winced, but said nothing. Deidara deemed his own imagination to be too vivid – he could imagine all too clearly what it must've felt like. The mere thought of it made him shudder and suddenly, Deidara felt his knees starting to give away. He had to take a step back and lean against the wall in order to not fall over.

He heard laughter. Snapping his head towards it, he saw Pein patting Kakuzu's shoulder, partially leaning on him. "Man, he didn't even open his mouth. Can't take _everything_so softly, hey, 'Kuzu?"

And without another word, he snapped the whip from the stitched boy's hand and swirled it around, cracking it harshly against Hidan's body. Deidara paled, cold sweat drops running down his forehead as he couldn't tear his gaze away from the scene before him.

There stood Pein, the guy that had been nice and friendly to him from the start, whipping his rank-mate mercilessly as though he were an animal he was willing to tame. It went on and on, Deidara shrinking against the wall. He slid down onto the floor, hugging his knees to his chest, eyes still glued to Pein.

After about the tenth whipping, a low and muffled scream finally escaped Hidan's mouth. The sound pierced through Deidara like a knife, leaving a hole there that wouldn't heal. The scream was burned into his memory for good.

He managed to look away and hide his face in his arms. He wanted to get out of there. He didn't want to be a part of this. Why were these people doing this? Did they consider it _fun?_Moreover, Hidan was an _S-rank_student, yet he was treated as a replaceable, low class workman, a sacrifice for the aristocrats. Deidara couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening. What _was_this place? _Was this even a school? Where the fuck were the teachers?_

"_But,_we've forgotten one thing." Deidara could hear Pein's voice despite his desperate desire of being deaf at that moment. He hugged his knees closer to his chest, squeezing them tighter. "We have a new student in the S-rank. Shouldn't we welcome him?"

Deidara's heart skipped a beat when he got the meaning of those words. A dim ray of hope sparkled inside of him, hoping that they were talking about someone else, but it was distinguished when he remembered Pein's words – the group he'd seen in class had been everyone in the S-rank and none of them were new.

Deidara snapped his eyes open, looking around. He was on the ground against the wall and hardly noticeable, but when people began looking around, they would certainly find him. He glanced at the door that was a few meters away, but knew that he'd never be able to make it without anyone noticing him. _Oh God, why?_

"Deidara?" Pein called, gazing around himself. "Where is he? Blondie?"

Deidara pressed himself against the wall as hard as he could, wishing he could turn invisible. _Please, don't notice me, PLEASE!_His eyes squeezed shut when he felt something hard hit against his thigh, causing him to lose balance. He leaned against the floor with his hand, falling to the side with a low 'ouch'.

"Hey, I found a blond. Is this one it?"

Deidara glanced up, embarrassment and anger reflecting from his eyes. To his great annoyance, he found no other than the scorpion himself standing next to him. Deidara wanted to screech. What an _asshole!_How much trouble was this douche going to cause him? The scorpion wasn't looking at him, though. He acted as though the blond didn't exist. _What. A. Surprise._

Seeing as there was no way back, Deidara got to his feet, vowing that should he ever escape this room, he'd never attend any of these parties again. Not for the scorpion, not for _anyone._The only question was, would he be able to escape this room?

"Deidara!" Pein spread out his arms and smiled broadly at him, "Step closer, nothing to be afraid of!" He said, the whip covered in blood still in his grip. Deidara gulped, but forced his feet to start moving. Disobeying wouldn't do him any good. What was going to happen? Would he get whipped as well? That thought alone was enough to paralyze him.

He forced his eyes to stay away from Hidan and focus on Pein. Letting out a breath, he came to a stop in front of him. "Yes?"

Pein laughed, throwing his head back. He clamped his hand down on Deidara's shoulder, making the boy wince, and said, "Hey Blondie, no need to be so tense. Relax, tonight's party time!"

Deidara didn't get the meaning of any of this. Given the circumstances, it was obvious he found it difficult to ease up, so he just stared at Pein with a blank look, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Would you like to say anything to the audience before we start?"

Deidara's eyes narrowed at Pein. He didn't see the cool guy he'd met before, the one who had welcomed him to the school, anymore; he saw a murderer, a cold-hearted bastard. He felt a strange emotion stirring up inside of him. He wanted to _hurt_Pein and hurt him so bad the boy would fall down unconscious, blood running down his face. The urge was so strong it made his throat feel tight and he found it hard to swallow. The touch on his shoulder felt disgusting.

_I want to commit homicide,_he realized the same time a reply spilled from his lips, "I have nothing to say."

Pein's expression remained the same – amused and at ease. He felt as comfortable in this situation as a fish feels in the water. He stretched out his hand and gave the whip to the blond who took it without thinking.

"Go for it," Pein said before Deidara realized what had happened. He gazed at the unfamiliar weight in his hand as the words sunk in. His eyes flickered to the silver-haired boy tied to the table and he felt his heart sink. The boy was conscious, dizzily gazing around himself. The blood had left dark smears on his jeans as though he'd been swimming in blood. His wrists were bleeding, his torso was bleeding. Deidara vaguely wondered how long it would take for him to die from blood loss.

He shoved the thought aside, shaking his head in an attempt to forget what had just gone through his mind. He didn't want to be a part of this. He didn't even want to be here. He didn't want to have any relation to these people. His hand was shaking as he extended it to return the whip.

Deidara raised his head and his eyes met Pein's. Pein's eyes had narrowed and smile died, as though Deidara had just insulted him. It made the blond wonder briefly whether this was a ritual and he's just stood against their God. Or Satan.

Inside Deidara's head, voices were shouting prayers at their own angles to send someone _not_lunatic to this school who could explain to Deidara what the fuck was going on. As usual, there came no answer.

"The ones who can't hold the whip's handle shall meet the other end of the whip."

_Translation: if you can't whip someone, you're going to get whipped._A heated fight between morals and self-preservation broke loose inside of Deidara. Suddenly he became very aware of the people surrounding him, as though they were all pointing knives at him.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Sasori casually leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He wasn't even looking at him, only gazing at the floor. Deidara felt a painful twist in his chest and averted his gaze from the scorpion.

His grip tightened around the whip's handle. He knew the redhead was one of the main motivators for his actions, even though he didn't actually _do_ anything. He just existed and his presence was enough to make Deidara cross limits.

Deidara held his breath. _He was an egoist._ Slowly, he raised his gaze. _He was selfish._ His eyes wandered to the table and found Hidan's lowered head. _He deserved to be in this place._Damning himself and everyone else in the room to the deepest bits of hell, he raised his hand and cracked the whip.

The smack was a lot quieter than he'd expected. Deidara blushed, realizing that the other's would say 'he'd hit it like a girl'. But he didn't want to try doing better.

"You're going to have to do better than that to not become the sacrifice."

Or maybe he would. Squeezing his eyes shut, Deidara raised his hand again and repeated the motion. And then again. And again. The whip hit Hidan's chest, legs, head. And again and again. Even though Deidara's arm had begun to ache, his movements became harsher and harsher until they finally managed to draw out a whimper from the silver-haired man.

Bud Deidara did not stop at this. His eyes flew open and there was easily recognizable anger in them. He wielded the whip harder and harder, harder than Pein or Kakuzu had earlier, until the boy was screaming. The skin that had already been sensitive before, was now raw and bleeding even worse.

It was only when Pein started clapping that Deidara halted. He looked at the redhead, his breathing slightly uneven and eyebrows furrowed. The whipping had got him worked up. A small drop of sweat ran down his forehead and dripped off his cheek. He felt like he'd been woken up from a trance.

Pein stepped closer to him and took the whip, saying: "Congrats. You chose your life over someone else's. That's the way you survive here."

His voice sent a shudder running down Deidara's back and without his permission, his eyes wandered back to Hidan's body. He couldn't tell whether he was breathing or not. The sight made Deidara feel nauseous. _He had done this._Deidara covered his mouth and ran towards the door with a bathroom sign on it.

-x-

Soon it became clear that leaving the party wasn't easy even when you weren't in the center of the attention. Some bastard had locked the door. So, as an alternative, Deidara made his way to the corner where there were bottles still with some liquid in them. He didn't bother finding a glass, but took the entire bottle and sat down in the farthest corner from the crowd.

After having emptied half of the bottle and gazing around, he found out something interesting – he wasn't the only one who preferred being alone to the group of lunatics. Against the same wall at a small distance in a similar position he was in, was sitting no other than the scorpion himself, drinking from a bottle like a drunkard. Like Deidara.

Deidara didn't find it awkward staring at him; one of the many wonders of alcohol. He knew the redhead had noticed him, but chose to ignore his existence. This annoyed the blond.

"Hey!" he called, trying to catch the scorpion's attention but to no avail. "Hey!" No reaction.

Deidara frowned throwing his head back and letting out a low groan. Stupid bastard. He looked around for nothing particular, but then his eyes stopped on the cap of the bottle. He screwed it off and took aim, then threw it straight at the scorpion. It hit him on the head. Sasori gave him a sharp glance.

"Yo, bastard!"

Sasori raised his eyebrow, eyeing the blond indifferently.

"Mind minding your own business the next time?" Deidara asked, letting anger enter his voice. The redhead seemed clueless, though. "What _the fuck_ are you talking about?" he asked, making it sound like a rhetorical question.

"You gave me out earlier. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been forced to whip the shit out of that fuck," Deidara explained, frustrated.

Sasori rolled his eyes and looked away. "No one _forced_you."

Deidara snorted. "Yeah, giving me a choice between doing that and getting beat up – I think that counts as forcing."

"Brat, you annoy me. Shut up."

Deidara frowned and turned his head away. He brought the bottle up to his lips and licked the inside of the bottleneck before throwing his head back. "You really are a bastard," he muttered after having drunk the liquid. He tossed the empty bottle onto the floor.

"You can't expect people to take you seriously when you look _and_act like a shy dog who will obey every command given to him. I don't think even a rapist would bother with you – you'd be lying patiently the whole time."

"You _motherfucking asshole,"_Deidara hissed as he slowly turned towards the redhead again. "How rude can you be? You act like you own the place and now you're telling _me_how I should or should not behave?"

Sasori shook his head, taking another sip from his can. "I haven't said a word about what you _should_do. I merely stated the impression you give."

Deidara felt anger bubbling inside him, threatening to erupt. How could he e_ver_have been attracted to this jerk? "For your information, since you seem to be so certain in what I am like in bed, I _do not_act like a quiet shy dog."

"That could be counted as too much information."

Oh no he didn't. There was _no way_ Deidara was going to leave it at that_._"Yeah, go on and pretend that I crossed the line for you, when sex is probably the only thing on your horny, fucking corrupted mind."

To Deidara's surprise, Sasori chuckled and looked up at the ceiling, his head against the wall. "Most people I've met don't think of that as a bad thing." He looked pleased with himself.

Silence settled between them for a moment, Deidara taking time to think it over. Finally, he said: "As long as you don't go around knocking girls up, I guess it's not." He turned his head and his eyes locked with Sasori's. The redhead looked slightly surprised.

"That's an interesting way to look at it."

Deidara broke the eye contact and laughed, closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall. "For your information, I _am_a very interesting person. It's your ignorance that prevents you from seeing it."

"My ignorance or maybe your lack of sex-appeal."

That hurt. Deidara couldn't believe it, but he'd let that one sentence get to him, even though he already knew what the scorpion was like. His chest ached as he the line kept repeating in his head. The scorpion wasn't the first one who'd told him he had no sex-appeal.

He managed to suck it up and gave a slight, humorless snort. "You're a bastard." He didn't dare to look at the redhead in fear that his feelings might show on his face, so he sat there with closed eyes.

"I've been called far worse."

"Imagine that," Deidara quipped. "Let me guess – cock-sucking playboy, man-whore, asshole, motherfucker, Mr. get-you-drunk-and-knock-you-up? Did I get any of them right?" Deidara wished he could irritate the boy; he didn't want to be the only one who was in a shitty mood.

"A few," Sasori admitted genuinely. "What makes you think I'm the type to get girls pregnant and then ditch them?"

Deidara rolled his eyes behind the lids. "It's written all over your face. You're not one to take responsibility. I loathe guys like that. Of course, girls _are_extremely vulnerable when it comes down to this; it would require a _man_ to handle them properly. Sure glad I don't have to deal with any of it."

"But you don't loathe me."

Deidara stiffed. Sasori had picked out the one line from his speech that made him feel uneasy. Loathing was easier to be said than done. The scorpion was partially right, he didn't loathe him as he should have, only a part of him. His personality. One may wonder what _did_he like about him then. Was he the type to go out only for looks? But that wasn't correct either. He liked the strength and confidence that radiated off Sasori. He could imagine only too well what he'd be liked if he had a caring side as well.

"I loathe a part of you. You won't find a fanboy in me who'd kiss your arse regardless your actions." Deidara got up and walked away to the table with bottles on it, then returned with a bottle of beer and plopped back down on the floor.

He drank in silence. It was odd how he didn't even take notice of the music that played loudly in the background anymore. Secretly he was overjoyed it was him talking to Sasori, not the bitch Kei. At the same time, though, he felt like strangling himself for still acting like a groupie and trying, unsuccessfully, to hold on to his dignity.

Then a familiar song started playing. "_Less than three is just a tease. Send those nudes, make me drool. Hit me up, make me cum. Wanna sext? I'll show you some!"_

Deidara smiled and looked up to the speaker on the wall. Hearing a song he knew felt nice. He tossed the empty bottle away again and mouthed the words along, tapping the rhythm with his fingers.

"…_time to use my tongue on you. Show me what you got on my LCD. Let's get down to it, so you can get down on me…"_

He gave the scorpion a sideways glance, a mischievous glint in his eyes. At first, Sasori didn't notice him, but when he caught sight of the blond gazing at him, their eyes locked. Deidara was rocking his upper body to the song and mouthed each word straight at the redhead.

"'_Cause I wanna fuck you hard, I wanna feel you deep, I wanna rock your body, I wanna taste your sweet. I wanna fuck you hard, I wanna feel you deep, I wanna ahh- ahh-"_

Deidara got up and swirled around, feeling Sasori's eyes on him. Making sure to add an extra swing to his hips, he walked off to the bathroom, shutting the door gently behind him. He leaned against the cold tiled wall and blew out a breath.

He felt at ease and relaxed, even though his heart was thudding hard. The music was beating through the walls and even in the closed room he could make out the words easily. "_Love me or hate me, but you want to fuck me…"_For the first time in his life, he felt that BOTDF's lyrics actually made sense.

The white door cracked open and Deidara pushed himself away from the wall, looking at the person entering. The door closed again with a small thud and Deidara was pressed back against the wall. Sasori connected their lips, shoving his tongue in at the first opportunity. Deidara wrapped his hands around the redhead's neck, pulling himself closer to him.

Sasori's hands were down on his hips, playing with the hem of his shirt. His hand slipped beneath the cloth, running across the blond's naked back. Deidara felt like he could drown in the feeling. He set his foot between Sasori's legs, pressing his thigh against his groin.

Sasori's hand slid down to his jeans, groping his ass and then making their way over the curve to zip the pants open. Sasori's mouth moved down to Deidara's neck, biting and sucking the skin there as he pushed the blond hair out of the way. Deidara moaned slightly as his jeans dropped to the ground.

Sasori pulled the blond's shirt over his head and as Deidara insisted on doing the same, the redhead's shirt was ditched on the floor as well. Their bare chests pressed together as Sasori covered Deidara's neck and shoulders with rough kisses.

Deidara drew patterns on the redhead's back, tracing his spine up and down. His fingers hooked onto the hem of Sasori's jeans, sliding along it to the button. He undid the button and zipped the pants open, caressing Sasori's hips through the boxers.

Suddenly, Sasori halted mid-kiss on Deidara's collarbone, making the blond stop as well. Sasori raised his head and brought his hands up to Deidara's upper back and pressed the blond hard against himself, smashing their lips together in a rough kiss. Deidara didn't hesitate to open his mouth and felt Sasori's tongue worm in, exploring and mingling with his own tongue.

As the redhead's tongue withdrew, Sasori bit down on the blond's lower lip hard, drawing out a whimper. He let go of him, squatting slowly while running his mouth down Deidara's chest and stomach. His eyes were open, locked with Deidara's, shining dangerously. Deidara felt a shiver of pleasure run down his back.

Never before had he felt so good. Being held tight, yet firmly, as though to protect him and keep him safe. When Sasori returned, he held a small package in his hand that he'd fetched from the pocket of his jeans. He held it out for Deidara to see, Deidara raising an eyebrow at it.

At first, it looked like a condom package, but when Sasori ripped it open, he learnt that it was something else. Sasori squeezed it, pouring cold liquid onto Deidara's hand. It felt freezing, causing him to shiver, yet good. After getting it all out, Sasori threw the empty package down and kissed Deidara's lips again, as if to tell him 'you know what to do now'.

Deidara shivered again, kissing the redhead back. One hand around his neck, the other hand pulled down his boxers and moved to his cock, spreading the mass over it. Sasori moaned into the kiss, feeling shivers crawling down his own back. The blond wasn't half bad, he dared to admit.

They both heard the door click open for a moment, then close again, but thought little of it. The reality was too far from them already. Once Sasori deemed the work done to be enough, he swirled the blond around and ripping down his boxers, he made him bend over.

Deidara's cheek and hands were pressed against the wall then. The coldness against his skin felt good, oh so good. He felt Sasori grip his buttocks and thrust in, causing sharp pain to pierce through the blond's body.

"AHH!" Deidara cried out, pushing himself away from the wall and trying to get away from the pain, but to no avail. Sasori held him in place firmly. The redhead continued to slide in and out, the pain not fading. Deidara screamed at the top of his lungs, as though he was having a bad dream and wanted to wake up.

"S-SASORI! S-S-STOP-P!" he panted, sweat running down his forehead. Sasori, though, held his hands flat against the wall, rocking their hips together non-stop. And then he hit the spot. Deidara cried out loud again, only this time because of the pleasure.

"A-again-ah, ah!" Deidara managed to get out. He felt Sasori's warm lips press against his back and neck, his tongue caressing his skin. Deidara tried to struggle and press himself back to meet Sasori halfway, but it wasn't of much use. Nevertheless, he rocked his hips as Sasori kept sliding in and out.

"S'SSSSooorii!" he cried as he came onto the wall, the liquid running down it to the floor then. Sasori continued thrusting until he came as well, filling Deidara with the hot semen. Having milked it all out, he pulled out, letting go of the blond and straightening up.

Deidara's knees felt weak and gave away; he slid down the wall onto the floor. Sasori stood there for a moment, eyeing the boy lying in front of him. He was good, true, but after it was over, he became just another ordinary teen. He looked slightly cute, but also weak and vulnerable. There was no future for those like him.

Quietly, Sasori pulled his pants up again and zipped them closed. He snapped his shirt up the floor and slid it on. He walked over to the sink and turned the tap on, letting the water wash the liquids off his hands. He heard the blond move a little and glanced at him, but the boy was clearly out of it. Not used to so much alcohol, Sasori concluded.

He dried off his hands in the toilet paper and tossed the used paper onto the floor next to the boy. He wouldn't want to be the boy when he finally woke up. Silently, he left the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>

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><p><em>Oh, did I really say plot? I'm sorry, I meant SMUT xD Plot, what plot? Ok, kidding. This is actually the beginning.<em>


	6. Sour Taste of the After Party

_So sorry, this chapter is relatively short, but it's also the last chapter in Deidara's POV. (Not like last-last, but the next one won't be in his). A few of the following ones will be written in Sasori's POV, I think. I'll see how it works out. The next chapter will definitely be in Sasori's POV, don't know about the rest yet._

_Uhh, so, yeah~~_

_Also, FF is changing its outlook again D: I don't like it -.- It creeps me out. It's like, I come online one day and am like WHOA, the fuck happened here? It's making my profile look all... wrong. Not the way it's supposed to be._

_Anywhore, here's the new chap ^^. I hope you'll enjoy it._

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 – Sour Taste of the After Party<strong>

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><p>When Deidara's eyes cracked open, they were disobedient to stay that way. They were sore and swollen and kept blinking closed and open non-stop. His head felt as though it had been stuffed with heavy rocks that all pounded against his brain like hammers against nails.<p>

Covering his eyes from the bright, artificial light, he got up from the floor on his shaking hands. He groped for his clothes, pulling them on in a clumsy manner. He leaned against the sink, resting his forehead against the cold mirror. It felt good.

He had little memory of what had happened last night – only momentary flashes that didn't really make sense. Flashbacks of the hot touches by Sasori flooded his mind, making his head reel. Had it been real or had he dreamed it?

After splashing some cold water on his face, he stumbled in a zombie-like way out of the bathroom into the party room, only partly aware of his surroundings. The room seemed empty, at least as far as he could tell. Only one figure was asleep in an armchair. His hair wasn't red and thus was of no importance to Deidara, so he just trod out of the room without giving the person a single glance.

Deidara wasn't completely sure how he ended up in his own room so quickly – sort of like he'd leaped through a portal or something – but the next thing he knew, he had already closed the door and fell down on his bed, face first. He drifted off in less than a minute.

He woke up in shock, bolting up with a scream. He had to cover his mouth to muffle the sound, unable to keep the sobbing sounds in himself. He remembered it all so clearly now – Hidan's body covered in blood, Pein's merciless laugh, the conversation between him and Sasori, Sasori's _words..._and touches and kisses in the bathroom.

Where was Sasori now? What was he doing? What was he thinking? Who was he with? Where was he? Deidara couldn't stop his thoughts from whirling, driving him nuts. He wrapped his arms around his knees, drawing them to his chest, rocking back and forth on the bed.

He wanted to go home. He knew he was a coward, but w_ho the fuck cared?_Everybody was _nuts_in this damn hellhole! Where was Hidan now? What had happened to him? Where was everybody else? They hadn't been in the party room, so…

A sudden thought hit Deidara, making him stop swaying and stare wide-eyed at the ruined purple-colored wall. What day was it? It couldn't have been the weekend yet… Everybody was… _in class?_

Frightened, he glanced at his watch, seeing it was already midday. He looked out of the window accusingly, as though he was blaming the cloudy sky for his missed periods. Couldn't the sun shine at least, so he'd be able to tell apart the day from night?

He got up in a flash, going to his wardrobe and fishing out the first things he could get his hands on. The fourth period had ended 10 minutes ago, so it was lunchtime now. He didn't have time to re-do his hair, only run his brush through the blonde locks twice. He ignored the mirror on purpose – had he seen his make-up, he would've gotten stuck in the room for another half an hour.

He dashed down the stairs, outside, straight to the south-east building and to the canteen. He felt dizzy as he waited in the cue, the chatter around him sounding like the noise between radio stations. He leaned against the wall with his elbow, running his hand across his face, rubbing his eyes. He wished for the line to pick up the pace.

After grabbing some lunch onto his tray, he made his way to the large eating room, eyes already scanning the people for a certain group. He found the S-rank students sitting in the same place as before and made his way to them, trying to ignore the nervousness in the pit of his stomach.

He knew he should've avoided them at all cost from now, but he couldn't help it – this was the place Sasori was at! How on Earth could he _not_stay with the group the scorpion was in?

A few, including Pein and excluding Sasori, raised their heads and nodded in acknowledgement when the blond sat down. At first, he thought it'd be for the best to smile – a friendly gesture, why not? – but then thought better of it and settled for a solemn expression. It'd be for the best to try to fit in.

As he brought a spoonful of soup to his mouth, he looked around, trying to catch on to what was going on. He'd thought there was a conversation, but as it turned out, it had been only short sentences said with minute-long intervals. There was no group spirit, people were minding their own business.

Tayuya was sitting on Itachi's lap, eating and twisting around from time to time to look at the male. The sentences they exchanged were said in quiet voices and Deidara didn't catch the meaning of them. While the girl was eating, Itachi only played with her hair or said something to Kakuzu, who was sitting next to him, but didn't eat anything.

Next to Kakuzu and across from Deidara was Sasori, seeming lost in his own thoughts. He ate hungrily and Deidara found it somewhat cute. He was able to imagine way to vividly his own hand being the one to raise the spoon to Sasori's lips. Oh God, why did he keep thinking about stuff like this? Hiding his blush behind his messy fringe, he sipped the hot liquid off his own spoon.

On his right were Pein and Konan – Konan sitting on the redhead's lap. Once again she was wearing a really short black skirt and had her legs crossed, her bare thighs showing under the table, above her black knee-high stockings. She was wearing black high heeled ankle boots that looked really good with her long and slim legs, Deidara had to admit.

She was leaning slightly to one side, eating a green apple and letting Pein take a bite out of it from time to time as well. Her hand was resting on his shoulder. She didn't say a word while Pein talked to Kakuzu. Her suggestive pose made Deidara think of a hot Asian woman standing behind a leader of mafia. The kind of a woman who looked pretty, dangerous and didn't talk much and if only, then to her man. She was the one to stay behind the scene and relieve her husband at the end of the day, that being her purpose.

Deidara watched them and thought that everything looked the same way as it had on the previous day. Only something was missing… and then he remembered what it was. Or_who._Hidan wasn't there.

The soup seemed to turn cold in Deidara's mouth. He waited more or less patiently for a couple of minutes, not wanting to stir up drama for nothing. Maybe Hidan had gone to get a refill or something?

But that wasn't true, Deidara was sure of it. He would've had seen him on his way to the table.

Or maybe he'd slept in, like he himself had? Deidara dismissed the thought as 'unlikely' as well. Hidan was gone. To where, he didn't know. And he certainly wasn't going to ask anyone from this group, either.

He looked at Pein, the same hatred he'd experienced at the party awakening inside him again. What had they d_one_to Hidan?

"You sure took your time in the morning. Missing your classes and all…" Pein teased, catching Deidara looking at him. The blond blinked, staring at him for a moment before turning away. He deemed his almost empty plate to be a safe place to let his gaze rest on and gave a shrug as a reply to the boy.

"Can't blame a guy for wanting some sleep," he muttered, finishing up his soup.

Pein laughed loudly. It was the kind of obnoxious and insolent, yet funny and friendly if you knew the person, laugh. Deidara felt the corner of his mouth curve upwards in a smile, but it died and he paled as soon as he flashed to the last time he'd heard that laugh. At the party where they'd beaten Hidan.

Deidara awkwardly turned away again, his eyes shyly peeking from behind his fringe at Sasori. The scorpion had just finished eating as well and was now finishing up his glass of water. (How healthy of him.) Not once had he even glanced at the blond and this was making Deidara slightly worried. What was going on?

Sasori got up and took his tray, pushing back his chair and walking off to where the dirty dishes were supposed to be left at. He left without a word and no one else seemed to mind or find it odd. Except Deidara. He did mind. Once again he could hear Pein's words clearly in his head '_… He may not be what you're looking for…' a_nd he shook his head to get that voice out of his head. It was not true! Sasori was the one, he knew it! All they had to do was to get to know each other… right?

With little hesitation, but 100 percent determination, Deidara pushed his chair back as well and picked up his tray. He gave a low 'see ya' and went to put away his tray, before tracing after the redhead out of the door.

He saw him walking down the hallway, but before he could tell him to stop, he'd already disappeared behind the corner. Deidara clenched his fists and ran after him, calling for him right after turning the corner. There was no one else in the corridor but them, yet Sasori just kept on walking, pretending he hadn't heard him.

"WAIT!" Deidara shouted, then muttering 'damn bastard' under his breath. "SASORI! WAIT, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" He caught up with the redhead and grabbed his arm, swinging him around in a rushed motion. Sasori's emotionless expression dismayed the blond a great deal and suddenly, he didn't feel all that confident anymore. But his determination hadn't disappeared anywhere.

"What's up with you?" Deidara asked, trying to keep his tone calm and casual. "You're ignoring me today, while yesterday you were…" He trailed off, not even knowing how he'd intended to end that sentence. He looked Sasori in the eye, searching for an emotion, but ended up drowning in the depths of his dark eyes.

"What? Were you _expecting_something?" Sasori asked, his voice as stoic as his face. Deidara couldn't even make out whether he was teasing or genuinely clueless. He just kept staring, hoping the other would explain himself. He froze when Sasori stepped closer, lifting his chin up with two fingers. "You really are a brat," Sasori stated dryly. He let go of the blond's chin. "Leave me alone. You have nothing to do with me and vice versa."

With that said, the redhead turned on his heel and walked away. Paralyzed, Deidara couldn't help but look after him, his head swimming and thoughts whirling. What had just happened? How was he a brat? What had he done now?

-x-

Once upon a time Cinderella met a Prince at a ball and the two fell in love at first sight. They spent the whole night dancing and everyone was envious of Cinderella. Cindy and the Prince married three days later and lived happily ever after.

This had always been Deidara's favorite fairy tale, but it seemed like a lie now. He'd always wanted to be Cinderella, embarrassing or not. Now, though, he detested even the thought of it, since he'd experienced the real life version of the story.

What the story didn't tell was that the prince was a back-stabbing, horny faggot and that Cinderella and the Prince met at a party, then had a one-night stand. Cinderella had been warned before, but as a fool, had ignored the warnings. Nobody wanted to be in Cinderella's shoes now, let alone envy. Also, there was no happy fucking marriage at the end, since marriage between men is illegal.

-x-

Deidara sat on the floor in his dark room, banging his head against the mirror. The lights were turned off and he'd closed the curtains. Tears ran down his pale face like a stream that had no end. Looking in the mirror he saw that his skin looked sickly white and his eyes that would've appeared red in light, seemed dark and gray.

The longer he stared at his own reflection, the more he wondered how he had been able to live with himself so far. What was wrong with him? Why did he look like this? His blonde hair was rustled and messy, emphasizing the imperfections that made him want to scratch his eyeballs out.

Why wasn't he good enough? Why wasn't he born perfect enough for Sasori to take interest in him?

Sasori…

Deidara clenched his fist and smacked it against the mirror, gasping at how much it hurt. But he couldn't stop. He kept hitting the mirror, hurting his hands and only leaving mere stains on the glass. _Why wasn't he perfect enough? And who the hell did Sasori think he was to be so picky? HOW COULD HE BE SUCH A BASTARD?_

Deidara let out a harsh sigh, resting against the mirror and sliding down it back onto the floor. He had stood up without realizing it himself. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his heartbeat down, taking deep breaths. The tears still flowed down his cheeks but didn't hurt that much anymore.

He had to do something. He couldn't leave it like this. A person who hurts others like that deserves _death!_Deidara opened his eyes, letting his gaze find the red bag that sagged open on his bed.

* * *

><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	7. It Starts Here

******(**_Oh my, Akuma has titled all the chapters... really... randomly..._**)**

**Chances are**_this chapter is really fucked up. Uhh... I've been listening to J'Lostein a lot recently and it's messing with my mind. No, SHE is. But that's beside the point. The POINT is that it's almost 3 AM and I just finished the chapter. My eyes are dead tired. I wrote this completely differently than I'd originally planned. It sort of still follows the plot, but I took a big risk when writing it like this. I may hit a dead end with this version and may have to delete+re-do it afterwards. I don't know. It doesn't seem that 'realistic' anymore in this chap. GAHH I DON'T KNOW. I'll see whether I can continue with the story like this. Hopefully I can. But let me know, what you think, 'kay? Please? It would be appreciated._

Oh, also, just to make things easier for you, here're the colors of each rank's uniform:

**Devils:**

**S-rank: **Black + red/gray

**A-rank: **Black + blue

**B-rank: **Black + green

**Angels:**

**C-rank: **White + blue

**D-rank: **White + green

**E-rank: **White + yellow

_Now enjoy seeing things through Sasori's eyes... if you can._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7 - It Starts Here<strong>

* * *

><p>Dull brown eyes watched the progression of the white clock ticking on the gray-ish yellow wall that had yet to be repainted for over 5 years. Two fingers were twiddling with a blue pen, tapping it against the desk in a steady rhythm that wasn't interrupted by Pein's faked cough or Tayuya's low growl. Only when Kakuzu twisted around on his chair and, giving a glare, slapped the pen out of the hand, did the tapping stop. But the two brown eyes never left the clock.<p>

Nobody gave Sasori strange looks for it, though. Out of all the S-rank students, he was what they called a 'daydreamer'. He stayed generally silent, rarely opening his mouth even when someone addressed him. He often chose to ignore insults as well, which got the others to wonder what exactly it was that got him to react.

The answer was simple. Something _interesting. _

After the class ended, the group of four S-rank students made their way to the canteen, Konan and Itachi joining them in the hallway. Sasori momentarily glanced up as Konan, dressed in a tight black dress that revealed her back and high heel combat boots, wrapped one arm around Pein's neck, receiving a kiss on the neck and a hand around her waist in return. Sasori's eyes flickered to Itachi, who, too, had his hand around, a lot more tomboy-looking girl, though, Tayuya.

Sasori's mind was on other things, though, and no one could be sure whether he'd really looked at the two couples, or if he'd just been spacing out. As far as anyone else beside him was concerned, his mind was a maze no one else had been able to take a peek in yet. What he was thinking about was for him to know and for him only.

Had he been paying attention to his surroundings even a little bit, he would've noticed a group of people in black and blue – A-rank students – clustered around a tall blond, who looked a lot more different from what he'd been like two days before.

Nobody could really tell what the real difference was, though, since no one had known the first version, but they could guess.

Maybe it was the carefully done blonde hair, tied in a half ponytail, or the even more carefully done dark make-up that matched the S-rank uniform. It could've been the skinny jeans and sleeveless shirt, or the shining black biker boots and leather jacket draped over his arm.

His past friends, though, would've said that the clothing was nothing compared to the oddness that was his current laid-back attitude and his careless, yet formidable, laugh. In the group it was obvious that he was the one looked up to and _that _was something out of the ordinary.

But as said before, Sasori preferred keeping to himself and had little interest in what surrounded him. He was the last one of his group to get in line and remained completely oblivious to the seemingly depressed E-rank girl behind him that kept her distance, and the chuckling mixed-ranks group behind her, who were shooting mocking looks at the redhead. Had he noticed them, he would've found himself quite genuinely astonished. Did they find something funny about him?

Sasori paused at the salad section. There were five kinds of different salads on offer, but deciding on which one to take wasn't what kept the redhead there. After all, the variety was always the same and he only liked one of them.

But as it happened, his next stop – the drink section – was crowded, so his stay at the salad section was prolonged by a few minutes. This, however, made the next event possible. His eyes were off the ground, slightly glaring at the cluster blocking his way, and ears were open as were all his awakened senses, since his focus was on the reality for a change.

The irritation bubbling inside him was what caused him to take notice of his name slipping out a passer-by's mouth and watch them as they came to a stop a few meters from him. He heard laughter and snicker, which sounded so out of place with his name that it even got _him _a little interested. If a raised eyebrow could be categorized as a show of interested.

"I just recently _heard_!"

"I don't believe it. It's only a rumor. The one who started it is dead meat, though. Do you think that boy himself started it?"

"Who? That blond? Oh, beats me. I can't make sense of him at all. He seems tough, though, but why the fuck is he with lower ranks?"

Sasori wasn't slow enough to not catch on that the talk was about Deidara. Since when was that brat _with _anyone? Wasn't he a loner? Not that Sasori gave a damn either way. But there seemed to be something on those people's minds that connected him to the brat. A rumor, they said? He couldn't remember the last time there'd been a rumor around about him. Hardly interesting, though.

Sasori's attention shifted away again, leaving the two girls gossiping as he moved on to the drink section. Having filled his glass with cherry juice, he picked up his tray and made his way to the mess hall's farthest table where every other S-rank student was sat, with the exception of one blond. Sasori paid his absence no mind.

He took a seat next to Kakuzu, his train of thought already directing him back to his own bubble. That's why he never saw the hustle on the other side of the cafeteria where a small group of people had gathered. It was strange how none of them seemed to be interested in food, but more in _encouraging_ the blond standing in the centre.

The blond just gave them an easy-going look, laughing light-heartedly at the comments and tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear.

Then there was noise. A loud 'drum roll' performed by an eccentric purple-haired devil with two spoons on a table managed to catch the majority's attention, including Sasori's who made a pause in poking his food and raised his head the slightest bit, his eyebrows raising at what he saw.

The brat – Deidara – was in front of the group, looking nothing like what he remembered. He didn't seem introverted in the least, quite the opposite, and his clothes were surely picked out just to give a good show. Sasori saw nothing that could've be described as 'tough', though. All he could see was a giggling brat trying to make an impression. And how lousy it was coming across. How uninteresting.

Sasori was about to lower his head and turn away, but halted when hearing the following sentence being voiced loudly enough for even the ones wearing headphones to catch it.

"I, DEIDARA IWAGA, TOPPED SASORI AKASUNA OF RANK S." Sasori froze at the table, his brain processing what exactly he'd just heard. But his pause didn't stop the blond and his backup crew from continuing. There was a fit of chuckles and giggles, before the next announcement: "LONG LIVE REVOLUTION!"

-x-

A sly and unnerving feeling was making its way inside Sasori by slithering in like a snake. At first, Sasori wasn't sure how to call it. It had been so long since he'd last experienced it and a human mind was, regrettably, forgetful. Memories were fleeting, they faded away with ease, leaving only a few unconnected dots behind that you had to re-connect, if you wanted to have access to the memory again.

But something was jogging in Sasori's memory, and once the word was brought up in his head, he knew he'd found the right one to describe the feeling he was experiencing at the moment. _Embarrassment. _

Everyone in the mess hall, without a single exception, was staring at him, even his fellow rank-mates. Many had already heard the rumor and that's what the talk had been about before. Did people really believe the brat? The _brat _topping _him? _Now wasn't that the joke of the year.

How could there have been morons who bought it? And what was the brat trying to accomplish? Affecting him? Ruining his reputation?

Let him try and fail, Sasori thought, closing his eyes for a moment to collect himself. He then bent over his plate again and took a bite, acting as though nothing had happened. If there was anything he was good at, it was ignoring everybody's existence. Why would everyone staring at him make any difference?

He even decided to disregard Pein's laughter and the comment: "You hear what people are blabbering, Sasori? Have you forgotten to inform me about you becoming _soft_?"

Sasori's more or less of a strategy – he did it instinctively, not planning it particularly – was to not react in any way, therefore giving the audience no other choice but to go back to minding their own business. After finishing his food, though, he couldn't stop himself from shooting Pein an 'are you serious?' look that shouted all the witty comments needed to shut the boy up.

Sasori got up and left the mess hall, hands in pockets and eyes on the floor. The rumor and the certain blond were the last things on his mind.

But that wasn't entirely true. While it was correct that he didn't spend time thinking about how the recent event had affected his reputation, he couldn't keep the blond off his mind, not entirely. Not with all the reminders getting in his way, at least.

Seeing the brat making out against the hallway wall with a B-rank student could've hardly be counted as a reminder, but the posters and flyers that had "SEME DEIDARA & UKE SASORI" written on them and seemed to be _everywhere, _weren't so easy to ignore. Had the brat started a campaign or what? It was like he was running for president. In Otogakure no Sato Academy. Ha ha. Another joke.

What did seme and uke even mean? Seme was like semen without an n, but it made no sense. Uke was like an abbreviation for some university or company, but it made no sense either. All of a sudden, Sasori felt behind the times. What the hell had happened to good old, and what's most important – _plain,_ English?

A pile of fliers was barricading the door to the classroom and Sasori found himself frowning at the structure. There was something seriously wrong with the brat. None of his past one night stands had acted like this. Almost made him wish he hadn't done what he had…

…nah.

He pushed the pile aside and entered the classroom.

-x-

By the end of the day, the whole 'campaign of the rumor' was getting old for Sasori. He couldn't help leaning down closer to the desk and pinching the bridge of his nose when the English teacher got hit by a paper plane made of a flyer. Because guess who got detention? Sasori. Because his picture was on the flyer. Fuck logic.

He nearly skipped the last class to get away from it all. The only thing stopping him was a voice reminding him _why _he'd be doing it – because of something the brat had done. No wasn't that pathetic? In the end, he forced himself to survive every single minute of the hour-long lecture and ignore the prying looks of his classmates. Who would've known someone's _eyes _could be tiring when feeling them watching your every move?

When class finally let out, Sasori felt like fleeing from this place for good. He couldn't go to his room, because he shared it with Pein and Itachi and there would be _people _there. Hence he almost ran down the stairs to the lowest floor, which he knew would be deserted at that time.

Turning the corner, he collided with a figure in such a swift movement that both of them were almost knocked off their feet. Sasori had to support himself against the wall to keep him from falling over and closed his eyes momentarily. He felt dizzy and worn out. The day had been stressful, to say the least.

Remembering that there was someone else there, he scraped his hand across his face and said in a lowered voice: "I'm sorry, I wasn't watch-" before he realized he was actually apologizing and opened his eyes. What he saw made his eyes widen. A light-hearted giggle filled the space.

* * *

><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	8. Armistice

_I couldn't make this story realistic an for the life of me. Sorry about that ^^' So I'm just gonna fool around with it and throw some random bs in. Here's another chapter in our dear Sassy's POV~~_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 - Armistice <strong>_(Just because I can spell that.)_

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching-" Sasori cut himself off when acknowledging the fact that he was actually apologizing. He opened his eyes and stared into the baby blue eyes of a familiar blonde.<p>

Except that he wasn't so familiar after all. Despite his anti-sociality, Sasori could see through people fairly well. His eyes narrowed as he looked the boy up and down, taking in every little detail with amazing speed. Ignoring the showy clothes the blond was wearing, he noticed how the brat looked a lot more laid-back and almost nonchalant. His head was more tilted back and, together with his casual pose, it came across as though he was looking down on the redhead.

Sasori arched an eyebrow. The brat had certainly gone through a transition, but the result of it surprised the him. The majority of his one-night stands turned introverted or even left the school, as though they'd been bullied for months. That was, if they changed at all. Many were like him. They didn't mind one-night stands.

The brat seemed to be different in this department, though, and Sasori was yet to decide whether he found it interesting or not.

He stared, without blinking, into the eyes of the blond, until the other's mouth stretched into a wide smile.

"Hello, _Master Scorpion_. Long time no chat." Deidara's grin could even be heard in his voice. To Sasori it seemed as though he was being laughed at, and judging by the expression the blond was wearing, that was exactly the case. How strange. "I see you're the same as ever."

Sasori didn't know what he meant by that, just like he was clueless of the origin of the nickname, but he wasn't going to inquire. There was something else on his mind. "I don't remember being topped by you. Did someone change my memory, or is it you whose memory is letting you down?"

"Oh, you've heard the rumour, too? It spread quite quickly, didn't it?" Deidara let out a light-hearted laugh, running a hand through his shining blonde hair. "As for your question, I can't be too sure. How could I, if there's a possibility that somebody's been messing with my brain? How do you remember it? Maybe we could-"

In a flash, Sasori's hands were pressing the blond against the wall, and to his own surprise, he found his breathing uneven. He was angry and glaring straight at the blond. How had he managed to reach that level, if only seconds ago, he'd been as calm as a rock?

Deidara was aware of the conflict inside the redhead; it brought an expression of content onto his face. He started to open his mouth to say something, but the angered redhead beat him to it.

"What do you want?" demanded Sasori. To the blond's displeasure, his voice was composed. "Could it be – revenge?" There was mock disbelief in his voice.

"I'm merely trying to stay on surface in this place," Deidara said, his hand wandering down to grope the redhead's jeans. The other raised an eyebrow at him, and Deidara could feel him tense, but didn't move away from the touch. "What's it to you?" A hand slipped into the back pocket of Sasori's jeans.

"I couldn't care less," Sasori snapped, perhaps a little too quickly. He started to pull away, but the distance between his and Deidara's face didn't lessen. If anything, it grew shorter.

"Since when do you walk away from someone so _easy?" _Deidara snickered, drawling out the last word. He was playing with everything he had. One hand looped around the neck, the other on the redhead's ass, both pulling them closer to each other. "Or is my lack of sex-appeal holding you down?" Deidara breathed sensually against Sasori's face and neck. "Can't say it bothered you before, _Sassy_."

Sasori was trying his best to keep up a calm appearance, but how long would anyone endure, with a slutty blond clinging onto them, begging to get beat up and screwed? "Is sex the only thing on your mind now?" _Why _hadn't the blond been like this at the party? Made Sasori wonder about how much exactly he had missed out on.

As the said words ran through the redhead's mind, he realized instantly how the blond would retort. Mentally he wanted to punch himself for making it so easy for the other.

"_Most people I've met don't think of that as a bad thing," _Deidara quoted the redhead from the night of the party. And he sank his teeth into the flesh of Sasori's neck. The blond's hand ran along the curve of the other's hip, finding its way to the groin.

Sasori felt the teeth and lips doing their work on his neck, could feel the route of Deidara's hand, and thought '_Why should he walk away, if this would prove to be even more pleasurable than the last time?' _He felt the blond's fingers find the zipper on his jeans and just when he thought he knew what was coming...

...a sharp knee kick in the groin wiped away all pleasure he'd been receiving. Harshly he was given a push and in a flash he found himself sitting on the ground, hands pressed against the semi-erection. He suppressed the moan and glanced up, finding the blond staring down at him, disgust covering his face.

"Stay away from me, you piece of shit," Deidara spat, turned around and walked away, blonde hair flapping, as though nothing had happened.

-x-

Since then Sasori was convinced that the brat had gone through a transition, and not for the boring, introverted type. Quite the opposite, frankly. Deidara was now a stormy spirit, wandering around school like all the rumours someone had started and tyrannizing Sasori like the ghost of an ex-girlfriend.

Sasori couldn't walk down the hallway without a reminder of the blond getting in his way. Whether it were the groups of girls pointing fingers at him or clusters of boys quieting and glancing at him as he passed, there was always someone. It had brought Sasori to realize how much he'd actually appreciated the humbleness that had radiated off the lower ranks whenever he'd passed them.

Sasori wasn't one to start a fight, though, if he had a choice. And he certainly didn't feel like taking on a dozen people on his own. But the staring and whispering had truly begun to get on his nerves.

Sometimes he'd encounter Deidara himself; those were the worst of his days. Because the blond would never be simply _standing_ in the hallway (like normal people would). No, far from that. There'd always be a guy or two hitting on the brat, or sucking faces with him. And did they always have to be at it while pressed against the door Sasori wanted to open?

Sasori had no doubt about Deidara doing all this on purpose. But surprisingly this wasn't what pissed the redhead off the most. It wasn't the blond's rebellion, it was how hard it had become to _resist _pulling the random guy away from the blond and dragging the brat to a bathroom or, better yet, his own dorm room. Who wouldn't have wanted to dominate a rebellious hottie like that?

Despite the long list of guys Deidara had been seen making out with, he didn't have a single rumour of him sleeping with anyone flying around. Which, to Sasori at least, was the final proof that the blond was doing it all just to annoy him. And, only God and Sasori knew, that it was certainly working.

-x-

The S-rank lunch table was the same as usual - the same as it had been before the blond's arrival. Since Deidara didn't sit with them anymore, there wasn't a single reminder of him at the table. None of the S-rankers ever paid attention to what was happening with the lower ranks. The only exception had been when Deidara and his group had declared to the entire student body that Sasori had been topped, but that had been only once. None of them had ever mentioned it after that.

Sasori, of course, kept his mouth shut as well. Why would've he started a conversation about something he so clearly wanted to avoid talking about? It was his business and his business alone. And Deidara's, but that was another story.

Sasori sat at the lunch table, ignoring the chatter around him, and tried to figure out what he should do next. Should he continue ignoring everything like he had until now, and hope that it would all just eventually go away?

Or should've he tried talking to Deidara? Yeah, merely talking?

But what on Earth would've he said, if he couldn't even make sense of his own emotions? What the hell did he want?

-x-

After lunch Sasori decided to take the rest of the day off. He didn't care for a permission slip, they could punish him if they wanted. Truth was, every teacher in Oto no Sato would've been grateful to not have him in his class. He could make their day for a change, but just this once.

Sasori got his sportswear from his bedroom and went straight to the gym changing rooms. He only paused on the way to get a bottle of mineral water from the machine in the hallway. He undressed and threw his clothes into the locker. He was frustrated and wanted to get away. Some serious work-out might've exactly been what he needed.

Sasori may not have looked like it, not under the long-sleeved shirt and dark jacket, but his hands and torso were really muscular. He wasn't the type to go and sweat with everyone else in the gym daily – he preferred being alone – but he liked being fit. One didn't keep up an S-rank student's reputation by being a marshmallow.

Sasori changed into his sportswear and trod to the gym. Fortunately, he thought, at this time of day, the place would be empty. He pressed down the handle, opened the door and... nearly shut it again and turned on his heel.

Nearly.

Because right there, in the right corner on a leg extension machine, sat no other than Deidara The Annoying Brat.

Why the hell wasn't he in class? Sasori went completely still for a moment and a small part of him wanted to leave right then, but he caught himself on time.

_What the hell are you doing, Sasori? _a strict voice demanded in his head. _Who is this brat to chase you away from where you want to be? _

Sasori's grip on the handle tightened and he pushed the door open. Keeping his gaze on the ground, he headed straight to the weights. He was determined to keep his focus solely on working out and ignoring the blond's presence completely. Would it work?

To make sure it did, Sasori put on more weights than usual. It didn't keep him from glancing at the brat from time to time (Deidara had moved to the treadmill), but didn't allow him to stare at him the entire time either, which was definitely a plus. (Did the blond have to wear clothes so tight even to the gym? And why were his exhausted breaths such turn-ons?)

Sasori almost let the bar slip out of frustration. He held it close to his chest, resting a little. Should he leave after all and come back later? He was about to get up when he noticed the blond getting off the treadmill and heading out the room. Sasori sighed contently.

He continued working out for almost an hour, glad to have the place to himself. The blond was still on his mind, but at least the real thing was away from him.

By the time he finished, he had calmed down and was in control of his own thoughts again. He was glad. Putting the weights back, he wiped the sweat off his face with a towel and went to the locker room. He undressed without a hurry, almost smiling to himself. The work-out had really been what he'd needed.

He closed the locker door and strolled to the showers. Behind the door he halted. Water could be heard running in the communal shower room. Sasori bit his lip. _It couldn't be- _Not able to resist the urge, Sasori cracked the door open and found Deidara showering, his back on him. Sasori felt like hitting himself with something heavy. The blond had probably gone swimming after he'd left.

_It won't take that long, _Sasori reasoned to himself and stepped inside. He hung his towel on the wall and turned on one of the taps. Warm water poured down on his sweaty face and Sasori let out a composed sigh. It felt good; it felt really, really good. And there was no greater distracter he could think of – all he could think of was the hot water washing away all the sweat from his body and massaging him – until the blond begun to sing. He. Begun. To sing.

Sasori literally slammed his forehead against the wall. Was this boy for real?

"_I'm your favourite drug, your favourite drug. Just one hit is never enough. I'm your favourite drug, your favourite drug. You can't break this addiction, nooo!"_

Sasori faked a cough. "Cut it out."

Deidara swung around and looked alarmed, as though he'd just now realized he wasn't alone in the showers. It took every bit of Sasori's self control to keep his eyes solely on the blond's face.

Deidara didn't bother straining himself, though. After collecting himself, a sly smirk crossed his lips and he shamelessly looked Sasori up and down. His smirk turned into a smile when his gaze stopped on Sasori's waist.

"Hi," he said simply, once looking the redhead in the eye again. He turned around and closed the tap, wringing out his long blonde hair. Done with that, he grabbed his towel and, using it to dry his hair instead of covering his lower regions, went out the door. The whole incident from Deidara noticing Sasori to him walking out the door had taken less than half a minute and not once had the blond's cheeks flushed.

Sasori frowned. He turned the tap off as well and followed the blond to the locker room. He knew the two of them had to talk and this might've been the best chance he'd get.

"Brat-, I mean, Deidara!" Sasori called out, after tying the towel safely around his waist. The blond's shameless staring had bothered him for some strange, unknown reason. "Deidara, we need to talk," he stated, looking at the blond who was just about to leave.

"You're wrong," Deidara said with an expressionless look. "I don't. But if you do feel the need, I'll let you waste a minute of my time. I'm listening."

Sasori quirked an eyebrow at the unreasonable retort, but decided it for the best if he let it drop. He looked down, scraping his scarlet red hair back in frustration. "Look, this bullshit needs to stop; it's childish and immature." He glanced up at the blond to see whether he was following. Deidara looked nonchalant, as if daring whether the redhead could do better than that.

Sasori kept the eye contact. "I'm _sorry" – _he nearly hissed the words – "if I did something you think I shouldn't have. I take it that our worlds differ far too greatly for us to come to an understanding. What I'm asking is, could we forget what's happened in the past?"

Deidara broke the eye contact with a blink. He shrugged and turned around. "Yeah, sure," he said, before exiting.

Sasori watched as the door fell shut. It had been that easy?

It was only later on that he realized the blond might've not meant what he'd said.

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	9. Overboard

_Okay, I take it many don't like the way Dei is right now. Uh... Great. Well, this is how I, as an author, see him and the way he would react. _

_*cringes in pain* Okay, I'm in a fair amount of (physical) pain atm and it's pretty distracting, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes that may be left in the story after the proof-read. _

_I just updated my profile and after re-reading it, I think I sound like a cocky bitch, quite frankly. But the truth is that I'm just being straightforward, in my honest opinion at least. Whatever it sounds like, you guys still know that I love you , right? (Readers: You're capable of emotions? o.0) Thanks, guys. _

_Anyone recognize the blonde girl that converses with Deidara in the beginning of this chapter?_

_Also, this is the last chapter in Sassy's POV, so say your bye byes to his thoughts for now~~ _

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><p><strong>Chapter 9 - Overboard<strong>

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><p>Sasori felt uneasy the whole morning the next day. He didn't let it show on the outside – skipping breakfast and looking anxious were for attention whores – but even when his head was bent down while walking in the hallway, his eyes kept glancing left and right to spot a certain blond, or at least a trace of him.<p>

By lunch, when nothing out of what used to be ordinary had happened, he had begun to calm down and relax, though. Deidara had usually shown signs by that time of the day, and since he hadn't yet, Sasori guessed he really had given up. Was about time.

With a calm mind, he went to get some lunch and headed straight to the gym after that (they had PE). He saw Deidara there in class, but somehow it had happened so that they weren't even in the changing room together at the same time.

In the gym, the blond didn't even glance at the redhead and Sasori could smile to himself mentally for that. He was ready to admit to himself that he'd been wrong about the brat. He definitely had character that Sasori could call 'interesting'. Too bad the blond hated his guts, otherwise he wouldn't have minded conversing with him.

When the class ended, Sasori started following the stream of students out of the gym, when he caught sight of Deidara standing on the other side of the room, talking to a blonde girl. Sasori quirked an eyebrow; was Deidara bi? He shook his head, disappointed in himself. Not _everyone _converses with the purpose of an intimate relationship, he needed to remind himself.

He let his eyes rest on the girl once more. Judging by her baggy black Capri pants and the black hoodie hanging open over an outsized green t-shirt (she looked like she'd just come from hip-hop class) she was in rank B; still a devil, but relatively low.

She looked oddly enthusiastic. There were no remarkable signs of her having attended PE; even her long, sandy blonde hair that fell loosely down her back wasn't ruffled, but straight as though it had just been ironed. Wasn't it compulsory for females to have their hair in a ponytail in gym? Deidara had. (_Har har)_

Sasori tore his gaze away from them both, and, convincing himself that it was none of his business who the brat socialized with, he walked out of the room.

After showering and dressing, he left the locker room, hair still dripping wet, only to have someone bump into him right in the doorway. Sasori's eyes lit up momentarily as they darted down, finding the same blonde girl that had been chatting with Deidara in the gym looking at him awkwardly, a light blush tinting her cheeks. The glint in Sasori's eyes was gone in a flash.

"I'm sorry," the girl apologized quickly, taking a step back from him. Sasori appreciated the space he'd been given. He gave a nod as if to say 'apology accepted' and took a step to the side to pass the girl, when his hand got hooked on something. He looked back and saw her holding tightly onto his arm.

Sasori raised an eyebrow. What an unusual thing to do. How eccentric and… boring. Had Deidara really damaged his reputation so greatly that now lower ranks thought it to be alright to be touching him whenever they wanted? From force of habit, Sasori stayed silent, though, and merely glared at the insolent girl poisonously.

The girl swallowed before speaking. "W-will you – go out – with me?"

"No," Sasori said and pulled his hand away, walking away maybe a little too quickly. He was stunned. What the hell had that been about? Since when were girls courageous enough to ask him out? He shook his head in disbelief to shake down a new worry that had begun to rise. Chances were this had nothing to do with the brat and what Sasori had seen before in the gym had merely been a coincidence. This didn't necessarily mean that the blond had gone back on his word.

"Excuse me, Sasori!" A lower rank devil girl Sasori had never talked with before came to a stop before the redhead, blocking his way. "Would you go out with me?"

"No," Sasori hissed and passed her quickly. He had a bad feeling about this. It couldn't have been coincidental anymore… Something was going on. What exactly?

"SASORI! WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?!"

Sasori swung around and saw an angel (rank C, judging by the clothes) running right towards him. Brown eyes widened. The redhead held back the urge to flip the girl off and only shook his head, before turning around and quickening his pace.

There was no doubt anymore – Deidara had somehow gotten all these girls to ask him out. But why? This wasn't like him; it wasn't irritating enough to be equal with the pranks Deidara had pulled in the past. After all, the basement hallway that Sasori was walking down was completely empty with no one but him to witness the girls. It was just taking up some time of h-

That's when realization thundered through the redhead. Taking up time. Distraction. This wasn't the real thing. The blond hadn't wanted him to reach his destination after gym as quickly. Why? And what _was _his destination?

Sasori thought about it for a moment, before he broke into a run. _His room._

He barged in like there was no tomorrow and glanced around frantically, his breathing uneven. Itachi raised his eyebrows as he looked up from the book he'd been reading (Sasori shared his room with Itachi and Pein), but just like Sasori, he was more of the quiet type, so he inquired with his eyes only.

Sasori left the question unanswered, for obvious reasons. He set down his sports bag, calming down a little when seeing that his room and the furniture inside were still in one piece. He plopped down on an armchair next to him and raked his hair back. Had he been wrong then?

"Yo Itachi, how long have you been here?" he asked the other male.

"A few minutes," Itachi answered without looking up from his book.

"And was the door locked when you came?"

Itachi shook his head, totally uninterested in whatever the redhead was getting at. Sasori was glad for that; the last thing he wanted to do was to explain his eccentric behavior to one of his rank-mates.

Unease shivered through the redhead again. Why had the door been unlocked? It was rare for them to leave it like that when nobody was inside. Had the lock been picked open? Sasori couldn't see why; nothing in the room seemed to have changed. He let out a sigh of frustration and stood up.

_Maybe I'm merely being paranoid,_ Sasori thought as he walked to his closet to get a jacket – he decided to go for a walk. Yeah, he was just being paranoid. Itachi didn't seem to think an unlocked door was a big deal, why should've he? _Because Itachi doesn't have a psycho blond wanting to make his life miserable, _a voice whispered through Sasori's mind but he ignored it and yanked the closet doors open.

He froze at the sight. At first he was sure he'd opened the wrong closet, but common sense pushed that thought away quickly. Quietly he stared at the heaps of ruined clothes on the floor of the closet. Many had been torn into ribbons, others looked like they had been burned with a lighter. There were holes on the inappropriate spots in the jeans and jackets that had been coloured pink with spray paint.

Rummaging through the clothes, he could only find one piece of clothing that hadn't been sprayed paint all over or ripped in half, and that was a bright blue ballerina dress draped over one of the hangers.

Sasori let out an enraged growl and slammed the doors closed, storming off in a huff. This had gone too far and it needed to stop. He wasn't going to let some damn _brat _– no matter how interesting – screw over his life like that. It was time for it to end.

Sasori banged loudly on the blond's door until he heard the key being turned. The door opened, revealing Deidara on the doorway. Sasori took in a breath and was about to say something, when he noticed that the blond wasn't alone in the room. Over the blond's shoulder the redhead could see a few devils (both boys and girls) sitting on the bed and ground. They were all fully-clothed and looked like Sasori had just interrupted their conversation.

Then Sasori did something he'd never done before – he took advantage of his high rank. Pushing past the blond, he barged in and barked at the guests: "Get the fuck out, all of you!"

Deidara clasped his shoulder and yanked it. "What the bloody fuck, Sasori? This is my room, you have no right-"

Sasori cut him off, pointing a stiff finger in his face. "Shut your mouth, brat." He turned to the others who still hadn't moved but were watching him with hesitant expressions. "_Move_ _it_. I've sent more than twenty people into hospitals and not all of them made it out there alive; six more won't make a difference to me," he hissed and flashed a pocket knife he'd taken out of who knows where.

Deidara stared at it with wide eyes. How the hell had he smuggled that in? Deidara'd had Shizune confiscate his 'hazards' (his cell phone) before he'd been allowed to unpack his stuff on his first day there. He ran his eyes over his guests, wondering whether they had possessions as such as well, but from their shocked and alarmed expressions, he understood that they were just as surprised as he was.

Muttering their goodbyes to the blond, the devils got up from their spots and hurried out of the room with their eyes on the ground. Setsu, the last one to go, closed the door behind her. Deidara shifted his gaze from the door to glare at the redhead, looking as angry as Sasori felt.

"What the fuck is your problem?! You have no right to come barging in here like you own the place! We're in the same rank, for fuck's sake!" Deidara yelled.

"You had no fucking right to break into my room and rip all my clothes to pieces either, but that's exactly what you did!" Sasori countered. "Didn't you say you were going to drop the bullshit?!"

Deidara's enraged expression cleared and suddenly he started chuckling, although there was anger flaming in his eyes. He enjoyed the moment for a few seconds, before quieting and staring at the redhead with disgust. "If sorry was enough, there'd be no need for hell, you pest," he spat. "Now get the fuck out of my room!"

Sasori's eyes narrowed and his grip around the knife tightened, before he closed it, shoved it into his pocket and threw a punch against the blond's cheek as hard as he could.

Deidara bent over, grabbing his face with one hand in pain. He glanced up at Sasori, fuming. "You bastard!" he hissed, before bolting up to encounter the attack. Unfortunately, Deidara had never been in a real fight before (he'd grown up in a peaceful neighborhood) and was no match for Sasori, who fought like Bruce Lee.

The redhead ducked every hit and kick aimed at him with practiced ease and threw punches back in the stomach, in the face or in the balls, never missing. Soon Deidara was thrown against the shelf on the wall; a few items on the top shook precariously, threatening to fall down. The blond fell on the floor, looking up at the redhead with disgust. It was obvious he was in pain, but would've died before saying a word about it.

Sasori looked like he was about to kick the younger male again, and Deidara braced himself, instinctively squeezing his eyes shut. His hair was ruffled and entire body hurt; he knew he couldn't protect himself. The kick never came, though. He opened his eyes again.

Sasori looked confused. What the hell was he doing? How could've he lost control like this, even when he'd sworn to himself that he wouldn't? He looked down at Deidara and had to blink before he could take in clearly the bruised features of the blond.

For a moment he felt scared; scared of himself again. Was he turning back into the monster he used to be? No, he couldn't; he w_ouldn't. _But the sight he saw before himself told otherwise. What was done, was done.

Sasori squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. A cold shiver ran down his body and he found himself shaking. Why couldn't he turn back the time and stop this from happening? Then again, he thought, there would be a lot more on the list of things he'd want to un-do and it would never be possible. Not that way, at least. He had to find a different way.

Sasori opened his eyes and turned on his heel, but instead of walking out the door like Deidara expected him to, he walked straight to the blond's closet. Deidara watched him closely; for a moment he actually thought Sasori was going to do the same to his clothes as he had done to his, but he saw the redhead only take a black hoodie from the wardrobe and close the doors again.

Sasori squatted before the blond and pulled the hoodie over his head. "Can you stand up?" he asked the other.

Deidara stared at him with squint eyes. "What the fuck are you doing?" he asked, hissing in pain when Sasori touched his arm.

"Taking you to the infirmary. Now tell me, can you stand up and walk?" Sasori repeated, a little impatiently this time.

"What?!" Deidara snapped in disbelief. "Just – go away! I'll manage on my own! Just leave me alone!" He glared angrily at the redhead and batted his hand away.

Sasori frowned. "Brat, don't act like you're free of guilt. I know I went too far and this is me trying to make up for it. Stop being so stubborn."

When Deidara merely sat there with his arms crossed and eyes looking away, Sasori decided to stop waiting for permission and picked the blond up of his own accord. Deidara didn't protest like he expected him to; it looked like he'd chosen to completely ignore his existence. Sasori rolled his eyes and walked out of the room with him.

The nurse didn't look surprised when seeing Deidara; after all the blond was far from the worst case that had occurred in that school. Nurse Yuiko told Sasori to put him down on one of the beds.

"I'll be back in a moment," she said, before leaving the two alone.

An intense silence fell when the door closed after her. Deidara lay on the bed, his face and arms covered in bruises and blood; Sasori stood by the bed , his hands crossed and face stoic, although there was worry making him feel ill at ease hidden behind that façade. He hoped he hadn't cracked any ribs of the blond.

"You know, you can go now," Deidara finally said, sounding ticked. "No need to stay around. You've done more than enough." His tone hinted that he wasn't referring to the recent favour, but what had happened before that.

Sasori nodded and turned around. "Get well soon, brat," he said before leaving.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Deidara yelled after him just as he closed the door. From behind it, Deidara could hear a distant sound of chuckling. He frowned and averted his eyes from the door.

_What a bastard, _he thought. Beating the living shit out of him at first, and then having a sudden change of heart and transporting him to the infirmary, as though he was the fucking hero who saved the day! Why in the bloody hell would he do that?

The door was opened and Deidara looked back there. Along with Yuiko, another woman with long blonde hair stepped in after her. Deidara didn't recognize her. They both came to a stop by his bed, Deidara noticing the strict atmosphere that radiated off the blonde woman. Her eyes were narrowed and shoulders pulled back.

"Deidara, this is principal Tsunade," Yuiko introduced them. "She's here to hear the story behind those injuries."

Deidara's eyes shifted from Yuiko to Tsunade and their eyes locked. Deidara got the feeling that in order to like the woman and get along with her, he would've had to have a completely clear conscience. At the moment, Deidara only felt dislike towards her and it grew with the following words:

"I want names, Iwaga."

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	10. At the Infirmary

****_This is short, I know. Very short. Better than nothing, though, don't you agree?_

_I'm still on hiatus, but it's like a semi-hiatus and I'm not even sure whether I actually am on a hiatus ._. It's complicated, I know._

_Anyways, I hope this update will encourage a certain someone (wink wink nudge nudge you know who you are) to continue writing. If not, I'll just continue trying. _

_Indeed, in this chapter you do not find out what Deidara said to Tsunade, so that cliffhanger will remain unsolved. But I'm pretty certain you'll find out in the next chapter._

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><p><strong>Chapter 10 – At the infirmary<strong>

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><p>"Iwaga." Yuiko's head popped out from behind the door.<p>

It was nearing 12 o'clock and the infirmary was peacefully quiet. Sun shined in from the windows, a couple of rays reaching the footboard of Deidara's bed. He was sitting cross-legged under a blanket, setting down tarot cards on his lap. The nurse's appearance made him glance up towards the door.

"You have a visitor," Yuiko said and opened the door wider. From behind her back stepped out Sasori, eyeing Deidara with a level look. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and a gray shirt – Deidara guessed he'd ordered some new clothes.

Neither of the males said anything and Yuiko seemed to think it was because of her. "I'll leave you two alone then," she said and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her quietly.

Deidara still didn't say a word. He watched Sasori cross the room to his cupboard and place a small, fluffy teddy bear with a white rose between its pawns on the counter. Gaze directed at the floor, the redhead stood still in silence by the bed for quite some time.

Finally he turned and seated himself on the bed next to the blond's, deciding to break the silence. "Why weren't you in class?" he asked.

"The nurse said I might experience dizziness and advised me to stay here for the day to rest," Deidara muttered, trying to appear casual and still into his activity as he flipped another card off his deck and placed it on his lap.

Sasori raised an eyebrow at them. "You're into fortunetelling?"

Deidara wasn't sure why this question irritated him. Maybe it was because Sasori was the one asking and his voice came across mocking, even though that might've been absolutely involuntary. The blond nodded wordlessly and added another card from the deck.

"What do the cards say?"

There were no doubts anymore, Deidara decided. The redhead was mocking him. "They're wondering together with me why you're here again."

"I'm here to see how you're doing," Sasori said.

Deidara rolled his eyes and put his deck down; flipping his hair out of his way, he looked at Sasori with a scornful expression. "Oh please," he said. "You haven't liked me since day one. What's my well-being to you?"

"I really did not mean to attack you like that," Sasori said sternly. "I am trying to make up for it."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "A plushie will hardly suffice." He gathered up his cards and replaced them in a small box, tossing it on the counter, thus knocking over the teddy bear with a rose. "That is, if I were expecting anything from you," he added. "Which I'm not. So you can just go on and leave."

Before meeting the other's eyes, Deidara's gaze momentarily halted on what was supposed to be a get-well present and he grabbed the rose into his hand and shoved it in Sasori's face. "In fact, take this goosefoot with you and give it to some other whore who would actually appreciate it."

Sasori eyes the rose in his grip for a moment, trying to find a fault to it, when it clicked in his head and realization thundered through him. His eyes narrowed and moved to the blond. "You're not mad about getting beat up; you're still holding a grudge against me for the one-night stand." This sentence could've been an accusation, an assertion, an argument of defence or all the previous ones.

Deidara's eyes furrowed into deep grooves and eyes glowed a dangerous blue. He threw the blanket off himself and pulled his t-shirt up in a harsh movement, revealing a horribly bruised chest and stomach. He watched as Sasori's eyes ran down his face to his bare skin and flickered.

He growled, "Yes, I'm still fucking mad about-" The words died in his throat when Sasori's cold, long finger traced down the bruise on his ribs, sending a shiver running down his spine. The finger went way farther than the bruise, though. It slid down the blond's stomach, further and further, until hooking onto the hem of the black sweatpants he was wearing.

Deidara gave a low growl at this. His hand extended and was about to slap the redhead, but was effectively stopped and brought to a halt by Sasori's hard grip. Not too hard, though; just enough to keep the hand in place.

"Pervert," Deidara hissed and let his t-shirt fall and cover his stomach once again.

Sasori released his hand and sighed. "Sorry."

"Heard that before. Got something new?"

Sasori pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled calmly. This – _brat – _was just so much to deal with. Seriously, did he act like this with everyone, or was he a special case? Deep inside, Sasori was sure he knew the answer.

"Believe it or not, brat, I didn't come here to argue with you."

"Oh, really?" The scepticism was evident in Deidara's voice as two eyebrows raised in synchrony, expressing theatrical disbelief on the blond's face. "Because to me it seemed exactly what you're doing. Forgive my misinterpretation then. Why did you come here?"

"I came here to ask you out." The redhead's bluntness made Deidara quiet instantly and the two eyebrows that had been raised in question, lowered back to their original place. To the blond it was obvious it seemed the other was playing another bad, tasteless joke on him.

"This isn't even funny, Sasori."

Sasori snorted when realizing the reason for the misapprehension. "You misunderstood the hellhole doublespeak. I meant 'go out' in the most literal sense of the word." He paused for a moment to understand whether the other had caught on. "Go out as in out of here. Out of the hellhole."

"As in run away?" Deidara guessed.

Sasori shook his head. "Not exactly. We'd be back before anyone noticed our absence in order to avoid punishment."

Deidara stared at him dumbly. "Why?" was all he could think to ask. "Why are you asking me along?"

"I'm trying to compensate for my bad behaviour," Sasori reminded him. "Surely you're sick of this place."

It wasn't as much of a lucky guess as it was an apparent fact. Every student in Otogakure no Sato Academy was downright sick of it; there wasn't another imaginable option.

"You're just trying to get me into trouble," Deidara said, even though he couldn't deny the fact that fleeing this place for even one night sounded most appealing to him.

Sasori dramatically rolled his eyes. "If I wanted to get you into trouble, I doubt I'd go as far as to actually plot a devious plan like this. Dropping a bag of snuff amongst your things would suffice."

Deidara paled, as though just now realizing how easy it was here to dig a hole for someone and not fall into it yourself. A miniature smirk spread across Sasori's face.

"Relax, it was just an example. I didn't say I was going to do it."

Deidara nodded a little uneasily. He hated how vulnerable he was coming across, but he couldn't really help it – he wasn't used to this kind of life. Always watching your back like in a battlefield. Continuously suspecting everything and everyone and trusting no one. Deidara couldn't deny that compared to Sasori, he was a newbie in this madness.

"Are you in?" Sasori asked him, befuddled at how silent the other had become. His words were what made the blond snap out of his daze.

"Alright," Deidara agreed, not able to deny the opportunity to escape from this place for even a matter of hours. "Yes."

Sasori nodded and forced himself up from the bed. "I'll come to get you around ten. Put something warm on." He started walking towards the exit, but halted mid-way, giving the blond one last glance over his shoulder. "Oh, and by the by, that chocolate inside the bear isn't poisoned." He proceeded and let the door swing shut after himself.

-x-

Deidara was allowed to leave the infirmary hours after the school day had already ended. He'd eaten lunch at the infirmary (nurse Yuiko had brought it for him from the canteen) and, though cautious of the gift at first, even took a small bite out of the chocolate bar. Deeming its taste wonderful, he soon ate the rest of it as well.

Back in his room, Deidara changed his clothes. He felt like bashing himself for checking in the mirror way too often, just to make sure all his clothes matched. Truth be told, there wasn't much to check or even match. All his clothes turned out to be black anyway, thus emphasizing greatly his light hair and making his skin look paler than normal.

A frown curved his eyebrows at the sight. For a moment he wondered what his mother would say if she saw him, if she knew everything that'd happened during the relatively short period he'd spent in Oto no Sato. '_I hardly recognize you,'_ she would probably say.

That much was true; Deidara had trouble recognizing himself, too. He couldn't quite remember anymore what he had looked like before all hell had broken loose; that is to say, before Tobi's death. Had he smiled more than he did now? Had he been tanner? Deidara couldn't remember.

The only thing he truly knew was that he had changed a lot; both look- and personality-wise. Even if he couldn't picture his past self, he could still feel the transition inside himself.

But he felt stable. He felt balanced.

He wasn't overly shy anymore, afraid what else he might find around the corner in this crazy, prison-like school. He would've been able to face Hidan covered in blood without fear.

He wasn't revenge-obsessed anymore. He was well on the road to put what had happened between himself and Sasori behind him and move on. He could be friends with Sasori, as much as anyone could be friends in a place like this where anyone could (and probably did) hide a knife behind their back.

He wasn't as healthy as he'd been before all this, but he felt like he could cope with the problems from now on. He could face them, not run away. He could put up with this madness without going insane himself. He would survive the time he'd have to spend here.

All those thoughts, mental sentences, ran through Deidara's head as he stared blankly at the mirror.

A knock on the door made him look away from his reflection he'd stopped seeing a while ago, sometime when he'd lost himself in his thoughts. He turned around and walked to the door, opening it in a steady motion. It swung to the side, revealing Sasori standing behind it.

"Ready?"

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	11. A Night Out

_Two years._

_It's been two years since I last updated and honestly I came very, very close to deleting this._

_But then a Muse hit me. And let me just say that one does not simply turn away from a Muse._

_I had to re-read all the chapters of this fic, the thoughts that ran through my head during the process included "ew ew ew typos", "when did i write this?" and "what the fuck was I thinking when I wrote that?"._

_And now I'm determined to finish this. And I will totally do it._

_I know that no-one will prolly read this, since everyone who used to read it are out of the fandom or dead already, but I just want to finish it. And if there actually is anyone still interested in this fic, let me know, perhaps? (might encourage me to update faster huehuehue)_

_And yeaaah. Lol. _

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><p><strong>Chapter 11 - A Night Out<strong>

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><p>Deidara was not sure what he had imagined Sasori's great escape plan to be like, but every possible expectation was let down when the two of them simply walked up to the front gate and Sasori handed the guard a few folded bills. The exchange went without a single word - the money was handed over and the gate was opened just wide enough for the two of them to pass through.<p>

"Are all the guards like this?" Deidara inquired, having monitored the occurrence with silent bafflement.

Sasori shook his head. "There's two," he said. "Zet knows their schedule."

"Zet was - the twin," Deidara remembered, "the one with all the information."

Sasori gave a nod.

They walked along an empty road that was missing a pavement. Deidara could faintly remember the path from his arrival to Oto no Sato and knew it to lead to town. He was not sure how much time it would take to cross the distance on foot and it was slightly worrying, but he trusted Sasori - at least enough to get them to and back from town on time. After all, if they were late, it would be on both of them.

Deidara did not mind walking, especially after such a long time of being trapped in a cage. Even the wind seemed nicer and the air fresher outside the school fence; Deidara breathed it in hungrily. After a while, the first car passed them by.

Sasori was walking a step ahead from the blond, leading the way, although there was no need for a guide on a straight road. Deidara caught himself gazing at him dreamily. At one point he realized the anger he had felt inside him for the redhead was completely gone and the current feeling was a lot closer to what it used to be than what it became.

Looking back on things, Deidara wondered if he could have gone overboard with his revenge. After all, what had been Sasori's crime? He acted as a douche, but that was what he had always been like - it had been Deidara who had attempted to ignore it and invited him in. In a way, the redhead had helped him by pulling him out of his shell and giving him the experience needed to stay afloat in the hellhole.

Deidara wondered if telling Sasori that would have helped their relationship. He guessed it was worth a try.

"Hey, Sasori," he started.

There came no reply but Deidara was sure the redhead was listening. He started to open his mouth to utter the three simple words of apology, but nothing came out, as though there was a barricade in his throat blocking the way.

"I-" he tried again, but his throat clamped shut and he was left staring dumbly at the redhead, who finally turned his head towards him, giving a "Hm?".

"I mean," Deidara corrected himself and looked down, "how long have you been here?"

Sasori gave him a level look. "What's it to you?"

Deidara shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets as casually as possible. "An ice-breaker," he said with a joking smile he gave the other.

Sasori snorted. "I see," he said. "Didn't wrecking my clothes serve the purpose?"

"I was trying a fresh page," Deidara defended.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't really do background stories."

"Hardly a background story," Deidara argued. "Besides Pein already told me what you're in for - killing your granny."

"I know you drowned a guy, but that's not even half of the story, is it?"

Mentioning the incident so casually sent a sharp bolt of pain through the blond and he paled, biting his lower lip. That had been cruel of Sasori, but this was how Deidara knew where he had gone wrong.

Deidara tried to swallow the lump that had risen in his throat and coughed to clear it.

"I should make friends with this Zet guy," he muttered. "Seems beneficial."

"You're really so eager to learn about me?" Sasori asked and Deidara caught the teasing note in his voice. Deidara had become to know better than to get flustered over teasing as such; he put on a smirk and retorted.

"And what if I am?" he challenged.

Sasori regarded him quietly awhile, then said, "This is my second year here. Not even Zet can get you more."

After that silence enveloped them.

Deidara did not like the lack of conversation. They had reached the border of town and a pavement with some buildings around them, but it would still take some time for them to reach the area where life was at.

"There's paint on your jeans," Deidara muttered.

Instantly Sasori turned his head to examine his pants.

Deidara chuckled.

Sasori, realizing he had been duped, gave the blond a mild glare.

"So you do paint," Deidara marked.

Sasori did not reply.

"While going through your wardrobe, I found some clothes with paint on them - pretty sure those were the only ones I spared."

"And why's that?" Sasori asked.

Deidara shrugged. "I like artists, they're the most interesting of people."

"You paint?" Sasori's look expressed scepticism.

"Occasionally," Deidara admitted. "I prefer clay. My whole room used to be full of sculptures."

"Used to?" Sasori caught on to the past tense.

"No background stories, right?" Deidara half-smiled.

They had come pretty far into town. Despite the late hour there were people walking around and cars passing by, multiple bars and food stores still had their OPEN sign on. Flashing signs of night clubs decorated the street. They stopped by a 24-hour food store first; Deidara had all but forgotten the taste of forms of sweets other than the insipid desserts at school.

As they went to the check-out, Deidara noticed Sasori pocket a pack of cigarettes. He pressed his lips into a thin line but said nothing and paid for his purchases. Out of the store he asked the redhead, "You smoke?"

"Good eye," Sasori marked dryly. "You should work as a guard."

Deidara gave a humourless snort. "Right. Except for my criminal record."

"Indeed," Sasori agreed. "And no, I don't smoke. It's for the guard."

For some reason, Deidara felt relieved.

For the blond, the time spent in town flew. Upon his request they spent most of it outside walking. They stopped by a night club for a couple of drinks and to rest their feet. The night club's guard Sasori was familiar with and, after the pack of cigarettes had travelled from his to the guard's pocket, the two students had their permission for entrance granted.

"You're less of an ass outside of school," Deidara marked after they'd received their drinks.

Sasori rolled his eyes at the comment. "Look who's talking," he said. "I'm just not interested in boring people."

Deidara nodded as he recalled the party and the conversation he'd had with the redhead back then. "And I'm boring," he said dryly.

"That was the first impression."

Deidara raised an eyebrow. "And the current one?" he urged.

Sasori gave the blond a look that made him feel transparent - it was the kind that made Deidara feel uneasy and like he was being judged. On his first days at the school, the look alone would have been enough to make him blush and avert his gaze. He had come a long way since then, but it didn't mean that he was completely immune.

"What're you expecting again? A compliment? Approval?"

"No." Deidara rolled his eyes and looked away. "You still are an ass."

Sasori said nothing in his own defence. They finished their drinks and left the club. The hands on Sasori's watch told him that it was time for them to head back.

They walked down the street in silence. The sky was beginning to get lighter and Deidara knew that the sun would rise soon. He hoped to see it before they reached the school gates.

"Did Hidan sneak out and get caught?" Deidara asked after a while.

Sasori quirked an eyebrow. "Where did that come from?"

Deidara shrugged. "I've been thinking about what the different punishments are," he admitted, "it didn't say in the handbook I was given. And at the party - Hidan -"

Deidara did not finish the sentence. The memory of the night still filled his stomach with queasiness.

To his surprise he could hear the redhead chuckle. He turned to him in surprise.

"You think that was one of the punishments?"

Deidara stared at him confused without answering for the fear of coming across stupid, which Sasori's question had made him feel as. He got the feeling that his assumptions were way off.

Sasori shook his head, but Deidara could tell the other was amused.

"We're not in North Korea, brat. Even the reform schools aren't allowed to punish their students like that."

"Then what was-?"

"A ritual," Sasori said. "Hidan is - something else. He worships a God by the name of Jashin or something, I've never really bothered getting further details on the topic. You can always ask him in case of interest, I'm sure he's more than willing to fill you in on all the aspects of crazy."

"I think I'll pass," Deidara muttered, feeling slight embarrassment for his ignorance. After a moment of thought, he figured it could not hurt to ask, "What is the most severe punishment at Oto no Sato?"

Sasori did not reply right away.

"Let's just say you have a lot of time to think."

"Is-" But before Deidara could advance with his next question, he was cut off by a loud whistle coming from across the street.

"YO, SCORPION."

Deidara turned his head to see a group of seven males in their early twenties clustered in front of a bar on the other side of the road. While their disorderly fashion made it hard to tell who had been the one to shout, Deidara was certain they had meant Sasori, as the chances of the presence of someone else whose name translated to "scorpion" in the vicinity seemed low. It became even clearer when one of the guys raised his hand and gave a wave to the sound of a loud whistle.

Deidara raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sasori, who kept his eyes fixed on the road before, not averting them for a moment.

"Friends of yours?" Deidara couldn't help but ask as he noticed a few of the males separating from the group and stepping onto the road.

"Just keep walking," Sasori ordered.

Deidara looked behind them again and saw the group disbanding.

"They're following us," he told the redhead, shifting his gaze back to him. He was taken aback by the expression he found on Sasori's face. Eyebrows furrowed and lips set in a tight line, there was a murderous look in the brown eyes, which Deidara had never seen before. He could feel a cold shiver run down his back that had nothing to do with the temperature. A voice in his head told him that something was off.

He glanced behind them again and saw that the two guys after them had quickened their pace into a jog.

"Sasori," Deidara started cautiously, "what's-"

"Just shut up and run," Sasori growled, grabbing his hand as they reached a corner. He turned around it and sprinted off the road to school, pulling the blond along. They ran down the dark side street into another alley and turned right. Deidara felt adrenaline pouring into his veins with a rush as a realization thundered through him - for Sasori to want to run meant that the guys they were running from were dangerous. Just how dangerous, Deidara did not want to imagine or chances were his legs would have turned jelly.

Sasori made another turn left and suddenly it struck Deidara that they were way the path to school and would possibly not make it.

"Sasori, school's the other-"

"_Shut it_," the redhead hissed and took another turn, only to come to a sudden halt and have the blond collide into him. After a moment of dizziness, Deidara looked at the redhead confused and was about to form another question when he noticed the reason Sasori had stopped - barely twenty meters away, three males Deidara assumed to belong to the same group were blocking the street.

The question "_how_" died in Deidara's throat.

"_Deidara, run_," Sasori ordered as he instinctively pushed the blond back. "_Get back to school_."

"What?!" Deidara exclaimed. "Like hell will I go without-"

"I'm not asking, _GO!"_ Sasori shouted at him with the same murderous glare that made the blond take a step back, but by then it was already too late - both of them could hear the approaching footsteps from behind them and in a few minutes they were surrounded.

"Long time no see, Sassy," a deep voice greeted from among the group and a man with a three days' beard and a large, slightly soiled jacket stepped forwards. He had a scar below his right eye, which stretched when he spoke. He wore an unreadable expression as his gaze shifted from the redhead to the blond; Deidara felt an unfamiliar chill settle in his stomach as their eyes met.

"Well, lookie here," the man said, approaching the duo with steady steps; Deidara felt an arm on his torso push him back and Sasori shifted himself in front of him. "The miracles time can do, you've finally caught a permanent fuckboy to keep around."

Despite the situation, Deidara felt himself blush and thanked every Deity there was that Sasori could not see it.

A threatening growl sounded from the redhead's throat as he hissed, "He's no-one and has no business here. He will leave."

"Oh, really?" the man faked surprise. "Because I was so certain to have heard him say like _hell_ he would go without - you. And you and I both know that we can't let _you_ leave just yet. Not after the shortness of our last meeting and the unfinished business" - the man made a curt pause as his fingers caressed the scar on his face - "from that night."

One sharp nod by the man that was not aimed at either of the duo, and Deidara could shortly sense movement behind them before he was torn away from the redhead and an attack was launched at him from behind.

The following happened very fast. Deidara was held in place with his hands behind his back so that he could not move, and Sasori was attacked by three men simultaneously. Deidara's eyes clenched shut instinctively and when he re-opened them he was surprised to find the redhead fending off the attack from all three. He received half the punches he landed, and Deidara was not sure whether he should have been joyful or terrified. For a brief moment, he actually believed Sasori could win the fight alone.

It was only a moment later that another guy joined the battle and that was when the balance was thrown off. Sasori got pinned against the stone wall of a building with both his hands and legs held in place. It took two guys to keep him steady and make him a punching bag for the others. Deidara was forced to watch in plain horror as blood was beaten out of Sasori's nose and mouth, and he was repeatedly kneed it the stomach.

Deidara felt like screaming, screaming for them to stop and for someone to help - only neither of them would have been to avail, and the only thing that came out of his mouth was warm breath that turned into steam in the chilly night air.

He needed to move - he _had _to - to get that shitface off his Scorpion, the one that was his to torment and his alone. He tried to break free from the hold on his hands, but it only resulted in the grip tightening to the point it became painful and a voice chuckling in his ear, "No point in trying, Blondie. You ain't saving your boyfriend's ass."

Deidara gritted his teeth with rage. "_Eat a dick, fucker_," he hissed and twisted around, kneeing the guy in the balls as hard as he could. To his delight his hands were released and the guy staggered backwards, clutching his crotch and cussing like there was no tomorrow.

Deidara used the second he was given and thrust towards the guy doing the beating. None of the men saw him coming, and by the time they did, Deidara had already landed a right hook in the guy's neck. The hit hurt his knuckles, but the blond paid no attention to it as he continued towards one of the guys holding Sasori captive. In order to protect himself, the one being attacked was forced to release the redhead, which resulted in Deidara missing and getting punched to the ground, and Sasori breaking free.

It took only a second. Deidara felt the kick in his gut that robbed him of breath and made him curl up. He was expecting another one, but there was too long of a pause. He was about to open his eyes and that was when he heard the words dripping with blood-curdling venom.

"_One more to touch a hair on Blondie's head and I'm gouging this fucker's eyes out with this knife._"

Deidara was slow when opening his eyes. He recognized the voice but did not recognize the content of the words. He looked up from the ground and saw everyone's attention on Sasori - the blood-covered, murderous-looking Sasori holding the man's who had spoken first - assumedly the leader - head in a death grip with the blade of his pocket knife so close to the eyeball that one wrong movement would have caused the blade to pierce it.

It was only later on that Deidara realized how terrified he should have felt, how paralyzed by terror. But right then, the only thing he could sense in himself was fascination by Sasori's skill when handling the knife - that was the hand of an artist, for sure - and felicity, when Sasori said the following words, "Get up, Deidara, and come here."

Deidara did as he was told and moved through the group, vary of the figures around him, but none of them moved as he made his way to the redhead.

"Get behind me," Sasori commanded.

Deidara complied without a word.

"_Three seconds for all of you to scram, or I'm turning this street into a Halloween party with some real organs._"

Deidara recognized the moment of hesitation, but it was brief - one by one the group disbanded, leaving them alone in the street. Deidara saw Sasori lean closer to the leader's ear and whisper something inaudible.

Deidara held his breath as he waited. A thought struck him that Sasori was still free to do as he liked with the men and after all the violence, Deidara wondered if he would actually go that far. After all, the blond was clueless of their history together; hell he was clueless of Sasori's history and even the present. A small part of Deidara wondered whether he was just seconds away from witnessing an actual murder.

And then the man fell on all fours. Sasori took a step back and closed the clean knife. The man was coughing and took his time getting back on his feet. After a few moments, he was gone.

Sasori sat down on the ground with a grunt, feeling his cheek and eying the stain of blood on his hand.

"Sasori..." Deidara whispered. He squatted down in front of the redhead and produced a handkerchief from his pocket, bringing it up to the other's face.

"Brat," Sasori hissed, "stop babying me."

Deidara rolled his eyes and pressed the tissue against his cheeks, lightly tapping away the blood. "Stop complaining. You can't show up at school with blood dripping from your face."

Sasori gave a growl and took the handkerchief from the blond.

Deidara snorted humourlessly. "Real macho," he commented.

They stayed there in silence for a while. Deidara was aware of the clock ticking at a merciless pace, but the fact was that they were going to be late to school, and they were going to get caught - minutes or even an hour did not make a difference anymore.

"Why didn't you run?" Sasori finally asked. "It was stupid of you to stay."

"It was rather stupid of me to lie to Tsunade about who beat me up before as well," Deidara retorted. "But I don't know. Maybe I just don't really loathe you. Maybe it's the opposite. Or maybe I'm just really stupid."

Sasori sighed. He glanced up from the ground and looked at Deidara with one of his eyes already turning yellow. He took in the ocean blue orbs reflecting sincerity with dead seriousness in his own. Removing the tissue from his face to reveal the entirety of his injuries, he said, "I'm sure someone must've told you this before already, and you must've figured it out on your own as well, but you'll never find a Prince Charming in me, no matter how long you keep searching."

Deidara cocked his head to one side, a note of melancholy recognizable in his voice when he asked, "What if I'm not looking for a Prince Charming? What if I'm just looking for someone a bit more fucked up than me so I wouldn't feel like such a lunatic?"

Sasori's eyes widened the slightest bit as he took in the words, before turning his gaze away.

"And what about me?" he said with a hint of sarcasm. "What if I'm not into lovey-dovey bullshit and just wish for a good fuck every now and then?"

"And what if I'm fine with that?" Deidara challenged, refusing to take his eyes off the redhead. His gaze was intense, daring Sasori to look back into it.

Sasori did, and on his face was the first genuine smile Deidara thought to have ever seen on the older male's face. Like a cat's who'd caught a mouse, it was full of sly content and Deidara could feel the heat rushing to his lower regions from the hot look the messed up redhead was giving him. "If you can repeat that line after the punishment I've now gotten you into" - without blinking, Sasori leaned in so close that Deidara could feel his warm breath and found it hard to tear his gaze away from the lips voicing the words with such a velvety tone - "I'll fuck you so hard you'll forget your own name, all right?"

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	12. Aftermath

_Next chappie is the epilogue ayyyeee._

_This turned out long and the last part turned out great, one of my best performances yet imho._

_Reviews are extremely appreciated c:_

_Enjoooy_

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><p><strong>Chapter 12 - Aftermath<strong>

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><p>Deidara and Sasori did not talk much on their way back to the schoolhouse. While nobody knew what was going through Sasori's mind, Deidara was pondering over the possible punishments they could be given for this. He wondered whether he should have blamed Sasori for whatever they were going to get - the redhead seemed to be expecting him to - but truthfully he did not really find it in him to do so. It had been him that had refused to run away, although he would have made it back on time, if he had.<p>

Then again, how could anyone have expected him to run and leave Sasori like that? Despite knowing that in the end it had still been Sasori that had saved both of their asses, Deidara would have liked to think that he had not been completely useless, either - he had gotten the redhead free and won him at least a second, which, in a fight as Deidara had learnt, was a massive amount of time.

With thoughts like that the blond followed his rank-mate back to the school gate.

The sun had already risen and a new guard was on duty. He did not say anything to the two students, but he must have notified Tsunade, because she was there standing by the dormitory doors by the time the duo reached it.

She greeted them with a dull look, like she was used to stunts like that.

"Returning on your own so early saves both of you a week, so that makes one for both of you," she said matter-of-factly, as though she was reading it off a manual, or had just repeated it so many times in the past that the lines came out robotic. "Go to the nurse to get your wounds treated and then meet me in the library."

With that said she turned around and left for other business.

"Library?" Deidara parroted with a tone of surprise. "What're we gonna do there?"

Sasori headed towards the eastern building where the nurse's office was located and the blond followed him.

"She's probably gonna take us down to the basement."

"And there?" Deidara pried.

"Alone time," Sasori said.

"Huh?" Deidara lifted an eyebrow and cast the redhead a questioning look, but it did not look like the latter was willing to elaborate on the matter.

They walked to the building and, ignoring the elevator which was 9 times out of 10 out of order, started climbing the stairs.

"Who were they, anyway?" Deidara asked. "What did they want from you?"

"Hn?"

"The gang." Deidara rolled his eyes. Sasori was acting as though he had already forgotten, while walking to the nurse's office for that exact reason.

"Trouble" came Sasori's terse response.

"No shit," Deidara muttered. "I was asking about the reason they wanted to beat you to a pulp."

On the second floor Sasori came to a sudden stop and turned around so fast Deidara nearly marched into him. His face was void of emotion, but the emphasis he put on his words was enough to give away the annoyance.

"Listen, I get that you've some fantasies of your own, but we're not in an anonymous group together," he said. Deidara found the reference amusing when his mind pulled up an image of Sasori in a help group of any sort - glaring at everyone and making them feel way worse than before joining. He had to hold himself back from smiling.

"Now I'll tell you this once," Sasori continued, "what's past is in the past. Mine is not pretty and might cause some damage in the future, but I'm not gonna discuss it. You just need to accept it while being around me or fuck off."

From the look Sasori was giving him, Deidara could tell he was expecting him to back down and take back his words from before - that he did not want a Prince Charming, and was willing to give himself up to the redhead despite the messed up nature of the latter. But for some reason Deidara found the redhead's harshness comforting. Maybe it was because harshness was what he really needed to finally be able to put his own past behind himself and forget about it. He was not going to achieve it with gentleness and being babied - his mother had already tried. Perhaps someone who had already been down that path was what the doctor ordered, namely Sasori.

Deidara just shrugged and brushed it off, saying, "It's fine. I was just prying. Let's go."

Sasori raised an eyebrow as if wondering whether the blond really meant it, before just turning to go.

The nurse did not inquire about the source of the injuries. Deidara's guess was that either they were too common given the folks residing in this school, or she had a personal policy that labelled everything not stated in her job description as unnecessary.

After getting patched up, the two headed to the library where they found Tsunade already waiting. The greeting was wordless and the woman guided them in silence through rows of tall and dusty bookshelves to a small door wedged between them Deidara would not have noticed had Tsunade not opened it. It led to a narrow spiral staircase that took them so far down that Deidara was sure they were underground by the time they reached the bottom.

There was another door that opened to an old-looking hallway, which Deidara could not help linking to one of the many hospitals he had seen in horror movies. The white paint was flaking on the walls and the plain doors looked like old ward doors, barely hanging on the hinges and ready to fall off with the first light gust of wind.

"You go here," Tsunade said, opening the first door on the left and motioning towards Sasori. The redheaded teenager walked in without a word and closed the door behind him. Tsunade fished out a ring of keys from her pocket and locked the door after him.

Deidara's eyes widened as it finally began to dawn upon him what was going on and the pieces started to form one whole of a puzzle.

"So, what, we'll just be locked away here for a week like in prison?" he asked the principal as he followed her farther down the hallway.

Tsunade cast him a look over her shoulder. "This is a first for you," she recalled. "Would've been idiotic to think there's be a single S-rank that would skip this."

Deidara frowned as he was not sure whether the woman was talking to him or rather to herself. "I don't mean to sound rude, but that didn't really tell me anything."

He heard the woman sigh and they came to a stop before another door, which Tsunade opened.

"Look, kid," she said, "this is where you'll be spending your following week."

Deidara glanced inside the room. It looked exactly like the mental ward he had seen in _Shutter Island_ - a windowless plain-walled room, empty apart from the one-person bed against the opposite wall. There was a ventilation hole in the right wall below the ceiling and a light bulb, with the switch inside the room, thankfully, hanging from the ceiling. Deidara could feel claustrophobia creeping in under his skin just from thinking about a whole week locked away in that room.

"Food is served once a day at 8 o'clock, up to you how you divide it throughout the day. Bathroom breaks are every 6 hours, so try not to drink too much."

"This really is like a prison," Deidara muttered as he reluctantly stepped in.

"Prisons have outdoor hours, you don't," Tsunade corrected him.

"What're we supposed to do here for the entire week?"

"Think about why you should never get caught doing something stupid again."

Deidara found the wording of the sentence peculiar and glanced at the woman with a raised eyebrow. It was as though she was not even encouraging good behaviour, but the skill of deception to not get caught for bad one.

"Although," Tsunade added from the half-way closed door, "statistics show that everyone that's been here once, will return at some point."

She closed the door. Deidara could hear the key turning in the key hole and the departing footsteps. With a blank expression he plopped down on the bed. It creaked beneath him and the feel of the mattress did not show promise of a good night's sleep. Sasori's earlier words ran through his head and Deidara finally understood why the redhead would not take any promises from him before carrying out the punishment. In a situation like that it was hard not to search for someone to blame and Deidara now had exactly 168 hours to decide whether the person he wanted to blame was the redhead or he himself.

-x-

Deidara lost track of time by the first evening. Without a clock the only things to tell time with were the 6 hour-interval visits from a guard or a teacher when Deidara was let out to go to the bathroom. The blond marked down each visit by carving a thin line into the wooden leg of the bed with his nail.

The highlight of the second day was when he found his own toothbrush and toothpaste waiting for him in the bathroom.

Deidara never saw Sasori during any of his bathroom breaks. In his bad hours Deidara was sure it was more of a good thing that they were being kept apart, otherwise it was like he would not have been able to hold himself back from literally biting the redhead's head off. Had Deidara had any knowledge of the punishment, he would have made sure they had started coming back to school at least two hours before they had.

In his good hours Deidara knew that it would not have mattered. There were still a million things that could have gone wrong that would have prevented them from reaching the schoolhouse on time. And even without knowing the precise details of the punishment, Deidara had still known that whatever punishment would be in store for those who were late, could not have been pretty.

The fact that he had not been given even a pencil and some paper was driving the blond nuts. The only way to avoid going completely mad that he could think of was singing, even if he was not much of a singer. By the second bathroom break on the third day, Deidara was positive there was not a single song left in his memory that he had not sung or at least hummed the melody of. By the fourth day, he had lost his voice. His throat felt like someone had rubbed it with sandpaper. He devoured the entire bottle of water brought to him and took the bottle with him to the bathroom to fill it with tap water.

There was no mirror or a scale, but Deidara was sure he must have lost at least 5 pounds. The food he received every morning was similar to what they usually ate for lunch in the canteen, only there was more water and bread. He usually ate all the warm food as soon as he received it and saved everything else for later.

Terrorized by his boredom, Deidara set up a workout schedule for himself. Keeping in mind that he needed to keep it moderate due to the limited amount of food and water he was given, he started out small, gradually increasing the number of repetitions of the push-ups, sit-ups and squats.

There were only so many hours he could kill with sleep and workouts, and most of his time was spent sitting and staring at the wall. Those were the hours Deidara loathed the most - he could not force his mind to go blank and without anything to occupy his mind, he was forced to do the one thing he wanted to avoid the most - think.

He had no choice but to think and so he thought, about everything. Everything about everything. What his life had been like a year ago - attending a peaceful private school in a peaceful neighbourhood living in a peaceful home alone with his mother. His relationship had not been perfect with his mother, but it had been good enough with both its good and bad days. Things had been going uphill, too, after he finally broke up with his douche of a boyfriend and made friends with Tobi - an edgy teenager from a close-by public school. Despite his constant mood swings, the boy had known how to have fun and brought some diversity into Deidara's otherwise rather dull daily life.

It was when Tobi's parents divorced that the top of the hill had been reached and life took another turn - this time downwards. Thinking back now, Deidara still could not help cursing himself for not taking notice of the changes in Tobi's behaviour earlier. But the truth was that it had been extremely hard to distinguish any irregularities in the boy's behaviour due to his naturally eccentric nature. Tobi had always been one to reach out for the extremes and perhaps that was why Deidara had chosen to ignore the extra packs of cigarettes in his friend's pockets and the fresh-looking cuts on his wrists.

He'd ignored them until the very end.

It had been the birthday of one of Deidara's classmates. Thinking it might cheer the other up a notch, Deidara had invited Tobi along. It was a beach party with a bonfire, food, drinks. the sea - everything.

Deidara had by now come to the conclusion that it had been Tobi's own choice, but he still could not help seeing the murderer in himself. Just how could he have let his friend, whom he knew to be going through a rough time, go swimming alone? Why had he not gone searching for him sooner? Why had he gone alone once he did?

It had been a long series of mistakes that had led to the present day and Deidara knew that no matter what conclusions he now drew from them, they would not change the past. So perhaps it was the wisest to do what Sasori had told him to and just let the past stay in the past, and let it go?

Not that sitting alone in a room for an entire week would have made it the slightest bit easy.

At times Deidara wondered whether he would have preferred Hidan's ritual - which he had assumed back then to be a form of punishment - to the week of imprisonment. At the very least it would have been a serious dilemma if it had been even a second longer than a week. One week of solitude he could handle, Deidara kept telling himself.

By the end of the sixth day he found it hard to sit still. He kept constantly walking around in the handkerchief-sized room and singing lowly with his still hoarse voice. The anticipation was eating him up from the inside with less than 24 hours to go before his release. Eventually he resolved on working out until the exhaustion was great enough to put him to sleep.

It was Tsunade that came to collect the blond. Deidara's legs were wobbly and jelly-like as he followed the woman out. On their way to the stairs he glanced at Sasori's door. It was closed and he did not dare to ask whether the redhead had been released already.

Walking up the stairs felt like a dream. The wait for the moment had just been so long and now that he was finally out, he was not sure whether he had returned to the same place he had left behind. Stepping outside, Deidara could hardly recognize the place - all the colours and shapes seemed different; the entire campus looked lighter in shade. He took a deep breath to breathe in the fresh air he had not gotten to taste for days. Perhaps the week-long solitude had not been all bad after all.

Not that he would have wanted to repeat it, of course.

"You've a week to take the tests you've missed so I recommend you schedule the times with your teachers as soon as possible" were Tsunade's last words to Deidara before she departed.

Deidara headed to his dorm room. Before anything else happened, he was going to take a shower and change his clothes. Then raid the canteen. His teachers and schoolwork could wait until afterwards.

-x-

Sasori was seated on his bed with the reading lamp on, casting light on his Biology textbook, when there was a knock on the door. He could hear Itachi, who was seated the closest to the door, stand up and open it.

A moment later, he said, "For you, Sasori."

Sasori looked up with an arched eyebrow. Visits for him to their room were so uncommon they could have been compared to endangered species. It was always either for Pein or Itachi, although the latter was not much more sociable than Sasori. Sasori just seemed to have a way of avoiding people so that they did not bother him.

He closed the textbook and got off the bed. It was the first flash of blond hair that told him exactly who was waiting for him outside.

Sasori stepped out into the hallway and closed the door after himself before looking up to meet the set of blue eyes that had already become so familiar to him.

One quick examining look told him that the damage done by the punishment should have been minimal on Deidara. He looked well with no visible signs of exhaustion or illness. A subtle smile was present on his lips and Sasori would have liked to take that as a sign of friendliness, though from past experiences he knew that in actuality one could never know with the blond.

Sasori proceeded with caution.

"Should I find myself a padlock to put on my wardrobe?" he asked.

The corner of Deidara's lips twitched upwards as he leisurely took a step forwards. "I'm here on other business," he said and reached out, pressing his hand against the back of Sasori's head and connecting their mouths. Sasori closed his eyes and felt the blond moving his lips on his, and slowly started moving his in synchrony. The kiss was tender and sensual, Sasori's hand looped around the other's slender figure to pull him closer.

"A knock on my door will do," Deidara murmured against his mouth before pulling away. With a wink he left and Sasori could not help his gaze from crawling down to his moving hips, which Deidara had made sure to add an extra swing as he walked away.

-x-

The electronic clock on the nightstand showed 1AM when Sasori was still awake lying in his bed. With his hands folded beneath his head he could hear the quiet snores of his roommates. The sounds did not bother him; if anything, he was used to them as it was rather common for him to be unable to fall asleep.

He knew that if he remained still in his bed long enough, eventually sleep would succumb and take over, but a part of him did not feel like remaining still at all. Though it had not been his first time, the week spent locked away had been a long one and left him deprived in more ways than one.

He couldn't help but wonder whether the blond was still awake and if it would be worth getting up to check on him. An average person should have been asleep at that hour, but given Deidara's tendencies to swing to the extremes, Sasori wouldn't have put it past him to be doing yoga alone in his room.

The thought brought a brief smile onto the redhead's face and he closed his eyes.

Perhaps it would have still been better to just wait for the sleep to come. It was a school night and he had two makeup tests scheduled after classes, meaning it would be a long and tedious day and he needed his sleep. Besides it was more than likely that Deidara was asleep already.

Sasori let out a slow breath and turned onto his side.

A goodnight it was.

Seconds ticked by with him lying still, each adding to the impatience caused by the lack of sleep. It was on a remarkably loud snore from Pein that Sasori's eyes flew open and he sat up.

_Fuck it_, he thought, swinging his feet off the bed and grabbing his jeans off the back of his chair.

If the brat was not up, he soon would be.

The lights in the hallway lit up as Sasori left the room and set off the motion detector. He had not bothered tying the laces on his shoes and they were flipping around as he made his way towards Deidara's room. It was quiet and chilly in the hallway, the hairs on his half-covered arms bristling with the cold.

Sasori knocked hard on the door and shoved his hands back into his pockets then. Impatiently he was chewing on his lower lip as he waited for an answer.

_Come on, brat,_ he thought, _you said one knock would do._

After a few seconds Sasori knocked again, longer this time. He was about to try the handle when it was pushed downwards and the door swung open. In the doorway was a half-naked Deidara, wearing only his PJ bottoms, squinting at the bright light.

"Insomnia?" he guessed.

"Took you long enough," Sasori grunted and forced his way in.

Deidara took a step back and the smirk on his face went from fully-lighted to barely visible in the moonlight as the door was pushed shut. "Took the words right out of my mouth," he replied and responded eagerly as he was pulled close against the redhead's body and their lips smashed together. He looped his arms around the redhead and, with a quick hop, his legs around the other's waist. Sasori's hands travelled down to grab his ass for support and devoured hungrily Deidara's lips, sliding his tongue in the moment they parted.

Sasori moved a few steps towards the bed and plopped down on it. Deidara rearranged his position so that he was straddling Sasori while propped on his knees; he shifted his weight more onto them and rose up slightly so that Sasori needed to cock his head back for their lips to stay connected. His hands started skilfully unbuttoning the redhead's shirt and ran over the bare chest, groping the upper torso sensually.

Sasori bit down on his lower lip, eliciting a moan from the blond as his hands slithered beneath the PJ bottoms. He ran his lips down Deidara's neck and bit on a spot there, sucking on it until it turned red.

"Don't bite anywhere visible," Deidara whined, "I don't want to wear a scarf the whole week."

"Thought it was you who wanted commitment?" Sasori murmured, abandoning the neck and looking the blond in the eye. "This is me signing the agreement."

Deidara's eyes widened and a jolt of excitement went through his stomach, but before he could say anything, Sasori's lips were already on his and his response got lost in the kiss. He could feel the redhead's fingers moving downwards and finding his entrance, teasing it tenderly. He let out a small moan and didn't complain anymore when Sasori's mouth moved down his throat to his collarbones and bit down there,

"We're gonna need lube," Sasori said, removing his hand from the blond's pants.

"Upper drawer in the nightstand, Danna," Deidara whispered, his voice slightly shaking from the anticipation. He rested his head on the redhead's shoulder, pecking his neck softly.

Sasori raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Danna?" he repeated.

Deidara chortled. "Has a nice ring to it, don't it?"

Sasori rolled his eyes and reached out for the drawer, pulling it open and retrieving the tube. "Just don't get too mushy on me, brat."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Sasori squeezed some lube onto his palm and spread it out on his fingers. Deidara lowered his pants and straightened up on his knees, feeling the fingers sliding into him.

"_Ahh_" he let out a low moan with his nails digging into the redhead's back. Sasori was scissoring the fingers inside of him and thrusting them back and forth.

"D-Danna_-ahh_," Deidara cried out with his back arching. He could feel Sasori's lips on his shoulders and chest, soon finding one of the nipples to nibble on.

"Mm, you sound even better than I remembered," Sasori said, running his tongue over the nipple. "Makes me want to finger fuck you until you cum."

A light blush tinted Deidara's cheeks as he could not help moving his hips together with Sasori's fingers and rocking himself on top of them. "Sh-should've taken my pants off beforehand," he said, his words quickly melting into another "_nnngghh ahhh_".

"You can clean them later," Sasori dismissed the matter easily. He removed his mouth from the blond's chest and gave him a lustful look, watching contently Deidara pleasuring himself on his fingers and listening to his breathy moans that were directing his blood flow straight to the lower regions.

He moved closer to Deidara's ear. "Won't you touch yourself for Danna, hm?" His tongue came out to taste the younger male and with his free hand he found Deidara's and held it tightly.

"Come now, I'll show you," he purred, guiding the other's hand down to his erect member.

"_D-danna-ahh_," Deidara moaned loudly as his own hand was guided to grip his member and start pumping it. The pleasure was driving him crazy with Sasori's full control over his body; the redhead's lips were smothering his neck while his fingers were still thrusting and scissoring inside of him. The tension was building up inside him and his hand on his member was moving faster and rougher of his own accord. He was panting in synchrony with the thrusts until he could not hold it in anymore and he came all over both of their hands with a loud cry.

"_S-SASORI AH-!_"

Deidara's body went limp and he leaned on the redhead with his head on his shoulder.

Sasori removed his fingers from inside of him and gave a low chuckle at the worn-out moan the younger male emitted.

"Don't tell me you're tired already?" he teased, covering the blond's shoulder with soft kisses. "Why, we're just getting started."

"It's your fault for coming here so late," Deidara growled half-heartedly, burying his face in the other's neck. "I was half asleep already when you knocked."

"You're gonna need more stamina than this if you wanna keep up with me," Sasori purred and moved his mouth to the blond's cheek in a tender fashion laced with a sense of mockery that Deidara caught and understood.

He gave the redhead a glare and raised his head. "I've more stamina than a full-time whore," he countered, indignant at having his physical ability questioned.

Sasori held his gaze with an unmistakable challenge in his eyes as he moved so close their lips were only half an inch apart. "Show me," he breathed, licking Deidara's upper lip.

Deidara's hands moved to undo the belt on his jeans and unzipped the pants, grabbing the hard length and giving it a tight squeeze.

Sasori hummed with approval.

"You're such a maniac," Deidara muttered as he started to pump him.

"Perfect compatibility with a slut, don't you think?" Sasori gave a sly smirk.

Deidara knew he was being dared to take offence to that. He removed his hand from the other's cock and climbed off his lap, pulled off his stained PJ bottoms and tossed them on the floor.

Sasori monitored with mild curiosity as the blond lay down on the bed and opened up his legs widely, letting his hands run over his thighs in an inviting manner.

"Come on and put it inside me then, Danna," he purred. "I've been waiting for you to fuck me the entire week."

While he might have harboured some doubts about the relationship before, it was then that they all vanished from Sasori's mind. If listening to the whines and complaints of one brat was the price he had to pay for keeping the blond solely to himself, he considered it a bargain. He could not remember encountering anyone before who could turn him on so bad.

Sasori slid down his pants and hovered over Deidara, kissing him before saying, "I'm not carrying you tomorrow if you're unable to walk."

He pushed into the already stretched hole with one swift movement, pulled out and thrust back in. He broke the kiss to give way to the breathy moans coming from the younger male, who was still extremely sensitive from the last time. It didn't take much to get him gripping the sheets and panting loudly.

"_Ah - ah - Dann - ah_" the constant staccato filled the room as Sasori picked up the pace. He grabbed a hold of the blond's leg from the back of his knee and forced it forward to gain more access. The bed was creaking noisily beneath them as Sasori rocked back and forth, pounding so hard into the younger male's ass Deidara could feel himself slipping away from reality into another dimension where only sensation and lust existed.

"_Mo - oh - re, Danna_-" Deidara cried with a following "_AHH"_ as his wish was granted. Sasori's nails were digging into his leg but he didn't even notice; he was already so close to falling from the edge a second time that evening. His entire body tensed and back arched when he finally came all over his stomach.

Sasori kept going for a few more thrusts, drinking in the additional moans from the blond until he reached his climax as well.

Panting, propped on his locked elbows on either side of Deidara, he waited for his heartbeat to slow down. With beads of sweat glistening on his forehead he looked down at the blond who looked as out of breath as he felt.

"Fuck, that felt good," he said.

"Was that a compliment?" Deidara quipped.

A faint smile crossed the redhead's lips as he connected them with the blond's.

"Don't expect more of them."

-x-

A dozen minutes later both of them had cleaned up and were lying in Deidara's bed.

Deidara was curled up with his head on Sasori's chest, seeming peacefully asleep already. They did say orgasm was the best sleeping pill. Though still awake, even Sasori could then feel his eyelids growing heavier and knew that it was only a matter of minutes until sleep would kick in.

His arm was looped around the blond as he curled one of the locks around his index finger and then unwound it. The hair was soft and smooth and felt nice between his fingers.

Truth was, nearly everything had begun to feel nice about the blond. After mulling over their history for lengthy periods of time, he found himself wondering whether Deidara had ever actually hated him, or if it had just been a show to get his attention. Sasori had never met anyone else in his life that would have gone to such great lengths just to cling to him, be his popularity among his co-students as great as it might. Despite the irritation it had caused, Sasori was glad it had happened. In the end, the ends justified the means after all.

Before giving in to sleep, Sasori placed one last tender kiss on the younger male's head.

Behind the closed blue eyes, however, was hiding a fully conscious Deidara, whose lips stretched into a triumphant smile.

_I felt that, Mr Macho_, Deidara thought to himself with an inner laugh, but did not voice the words in an effort to not burst the redhead's bubble.

Instead, he responded with a soft kiss on Sasori's bare chest before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>To be continued with the epilogue c:<em>


	13. Very un-epilogue-ish Epilogue

_The unlikeliest miracle has happened and this fic finally got finished!_

_I'm not even sure what I have to say about this. Kind of distracted by the damn ache in my stomach. But it's been a wild ride, I guess?_

_Most probably not one of my BEST works, but I've enjoyed it nevertheless, and hope the readers have, too._

_For those of you that don't stalk my profile (idk y u wudnt do that), I added this section "Soundtracks to stories" there, where I write down the song that most characterize the story/its characters and/or provided inspiration for them._

_For this story they're the following:_

Whore _by In This Moment (mostly for Dei) _

Killing Loneliness_ by H.I.M. (mostly for Sassy) _

Sex hat keine Macht_ (Sex has no power) by Oomph! _

_They're really good songs for one, plus my taste is music is obviously superior to everyone's, so you might as well check them out cx_

_Buuut enough chit-chat, here goes the very un-epilogue-ish epilogue that does everything that an epilogue shouldn't do (such as introducing new charas and being lengthier than almost all previous chaps) but still kind of manages to wrap the story up:_

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

* * *

><p><em>2 months later<em>

When Deidara opened the door to his room, the first thing he noticed was Sasori sitting on the bed in his room with a book in hand. It wasn't unusual for Sasori to show up uninvited anymore, as he claimed to prefer Deidara's room over his own due to "less disturbance" that allowed him to read in peace. Deidara never bothered prying into it to find out whether there was more to it; there probably was, but if Deidara had anything to do with Sasori's preference for this room, it was certain Sasori would have never admitted it.

Deidara didn't need him to admit it. He'd gained enough confidence to be assured of his own attractiveness, both physical and mental, that kept Sasori close to him. Hence, he normally left his dorm room unlocked. It wasn't like anyone was foolish enough to break into an S-rank student's room anyway.

It was a Friday evening. Deidara had never been one to do his homework before the last night, so his textbooks lay in an unorganized stack on his desk where he'd dropped them off after the last lesson. Next to the stack was an unfinished sketch that Deidara picked up along with a pencil and the book it lay on. Wordlessly he nudged for Sasori to move his legs and make room for him, and sat down on the opposite end of the bed, got comfortable and proceeded with his sketch.

The silence with only the slight scratching sound of pencil against paper to disturb it lasted until Sasori finally picked up the bookmark next to him and set it between the pages before closing the book.

Deidara didn't glance up from his sketch, but let his hand continue working as he asked, "What's the weather for tonight?" He hardly noticed the hellhole slang creeping into his own vocabulary anymore; it had just become another part of his life, just like living in the reform school was. Weather was used to describe overall plans, mood or social atmosphere at a given time or a given place.

Sasori closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. "I should drop by at some point, or else they'll come looking for me here."

It was the regular Friday evening "party" or a simple social gathering in the room Sasori shared with Itachi and Pein. It had only been a month ago or so that Deidara had realized that if given another place to stay - such as the blond's room - Sasori preferred staying away from his room on Friday evenings.

"There's this new kid, A-rank, in my chem that kept bugging me about the party and if I was going to show up," Deidara broached.

"I've told you associating with lower ranks is only hassle," Sasori commented. "You've another looking for a bodyguard."

"Honestly, I don't think he has any need for a bodyguard," Deidara said. "He's creepy as fuck, like the kind you'd expect to hide tentacle porn under their mattress."

Sasori snorted.

Deidara caught the hidden mockery in the response. He stopped drawing and looked up at the redhead that appeared half-asleep against the wall. He nudged his leg with his foot. "I swear it's not just me. Dude actually used "_So, what're your kinks?"_ as an ice-breaker," he said with a laugh.

"Tell me more about that conversation."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "I've like four kinks in my neck, that's honestly it."

The corner of Sasori's mouth twitched momentarily upwards.

"That's what I told him anyway," Deidara chuckled and cocked his head to one side, rubbing his neck. "It isn't even a joke, though, my neck's been killing me recently."

"Guess we'll drop by later then. You've a charmer waiting for you there."

"Right," Deidara decided to end the topic there. "By the by, I came across an interesting quote the other day. Wanna hear? It's quite confusing, I had to read it many times before I actually got it." The sketch lay all but forgotten on Deidara's lap by then while the pencil was still tightly gripped in his hand as he motioned with it while speaking.

"Go ahead," Sasori said.

"Okay," Deidara paused, his expression fully concentrated as he tried to remember. "I don't remember the author, but it went something like _If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, if at the foundation of all there lay only a wildly seething power which writhing in obscure passions produced everything that is great and everything that is insignificant, if a bottomless void never satiated lay hidden beneath it all - what then would life be but despair?_"

This time Sasori cracked open an eye to look at the blond.

"You memorized all of that?" A surprised eyebrow rose on the redhead's face.

Deidara laughed. "I just found it so strange, I wanted to understand it, so I read it over and over until it got stuck in my head."

"Did you figure it out then?" Sasori's tone was only mildly interested and Deidara knew that if he started a discussion on the quote, it would mainly be one-sided with minimal input from Sasori - but Deidara started it anyway, since he considered the redhead's silent listening as participation in another form.

"I'm not sure, but I've my own interpretation. At first I thought it was criticizing the belief in God, the _wildly seething power_ that is the foundation of everything and makes up everything, basically saying that this belief would make life despair.

"At first I didn't really get what the eternal consciousness was. Consciousness as the control of one's own thoughts, I guess? As opposed to those thoughts being controlled by a higher power. But it was the word _eternal_ that got me thinking that maybe it's got something to do with rebirth - so the consciousness of a man stays throughout reincarnation, even as the body changes.

"From that perspective, the bottomless void I thought could be hell that fits all souls into it, kind of goes with the belief in God theory. But it could also be nothing after death, you know? So the quote is basically pro the reincarnation theory and anti single God belief."

There was a pause, which under normal circumstances would have been filled with the opinion of the other participant of the discussion, but in this case was silent as Deidara allowed both Sasori and himself to process the thought.

"I found it really interesting and it kind of gave me inspiration for a painting," Deidara continued with the tip of his pencil on his lips and look thoughtful. "I'm still working on the idea, though, since I feel like it isn't complete yet. The quote doesn't feel complete to me."

"Why's it not complete?" Sasori asked, eying the changes of expressions on the blond's face as he seemed to completely zone out at some point.

Deidara shrugged, returning to Earth from his thoughts. He stretched his neck to the sides and went about massaging one spot. "I don't really get why a bottomless void would make life a despair," he said. "It more makes me think of free fall and freedom than negative connotations."

"Perhaps it makes life seem like a lost cause," Sasori suggested, "since in the end it's all lost in the void."

Deidara shook his head. "I don't think void means lost," he argued. "It's more like free. Life's a struggle for whoever's going through it and in the void they could finally rest."

A slight frown settled on Sasori's face as he mulled over the matter. "But why even struggle through anything, if afterwards you get lost anyway?" he asked, not quite convinced by the younger male's argument. "Shouldn't a soul be able to go on for eternity for life to have meaning to it?"

"Eternity sounds so strenuous, I really wouldn't want my soul to be kept on duty for that long. I'd like myself to live a fleeting yet meaningful life and then be given some rest."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "How's your fleeting yet meaningful life working out in this hellhole?" he mocked. "You sure you wouldn't like to trade it for long-lasting and chances to do better in another lifetime?"

A look of wistfulness crossed Deidara's face. "Not really," he said with a musing half-smile. "I'd say I'm content actually. Sure, spending high school here isn't the perfect scenario for anyone, but I don't believe in perfect scenarios. There's always something bad, just like there's good in every scenario. And I'm pretty content with what I've been given." A sly smirk made its way to his face as he put his legs over Sasori's so that the foot reached the redhead's lap and looked straight into the brown eyes. "I think even with my past, one lifetime is long enough if you leave what's behind you, behind. You taught me that, Danna."

Sasori huffed half-heartedly and pushed the blond's foot off his lap. "I don't recall teaching you any of that fleeting bullshit, brat. I agree with the author of the quote. Living just to end up in a limbo would really make life a despair and in essence pointless."

"Your optimism is charming as ever," Deidara quipped, the smile turning into a grimace as he moved his head and another jolt of pain went through his neck. He cocked his head to the side and brought his hand up to massage the spot. "Hey, you mind massaging my neck for a bit? I swear if this gets any worse, I won't be able to fall asleep."

Sasori raised an eyebrow but didn't respond as Deidara shifted himself on the bed and moved over to his lap, brushing his long hair out of the way and baring his neck. Sasori set his book aside and started rubbing the other male's neck with his thumbs, kneading through the tense muscle knots that had formed there.

"_Ohhh_," Deidara let out a low moan as the redhead's firm hands massaged his neck, rubbing the sensitive spots near his shoulders. "People that've never dated an artisan don't know what they're missing out on. I keep finding out new things that those fingers can do."

Sasori snorted and a small smirk crossed his lips as he continued working on the blond's neck. It was only when a knock sounded on the door that he stopped and looked up, briefly glancing at the clock on the wall.

7 p.m.

Sasori frowned. He hadn't thought Pein would come looking for him that early.

Deidara looked up as well and raised an eyebrow. "You expecting anyone?" he asked, despite knowing the answer, as he left Sasori's lap and crossed the room to the door. He opened it and felt his lower eyelid twitch when seeing the person behind it.

It was a rather tall and lean guy from rank A with bare bony shoulders that along with the dark circles around his caved in eyes gave him a malnourished and chain smoker's look. Deidara cringed on the inside and tried to prevent it from showing on his face.

"Uh, hey, kid," he greeted casually, despite the guy being a good dozen centimetres taller than him. "'Sup."

The guy gave him a sheepish look and motioned with his left hand while explaining, "Oh, I was just dropping by, since you said you'd be at the party and I didn't see you there so I just came here."

"Uhh, yeaah," Deidara drawled with slight discomfort. "We were just getting ready, will be there in a few- " He jerked his thumb behind his back, mimicking the other's awkward hand motions.

"We?" the guy interrupted.

Deidara blinked. "Uh, yeah. Me and Sasori." He shifted his body to the side a bit, revealing the redhead still seated on the bed.

The guy's expression went blank for a bit.

"Oh," he muttered. "Sorry, if I interrupted anything."

Deidara mentally rolled his eyes. He was well aware of the guy being way off with his assumptions, but didn't bother to correct him.

"Yeah, well, see you, alright?" Deidara said with a strained smile before closing the door on him. He let out a loud sigh and went to plop down on the bed.

Sasori could hear the muffled words "fucking creep" from the pillow Deidara had buried his face in.

He heaved a sigh and got up from the bed, putting away his book on the desk. "Might as well get this evening over with then."

Another not-so-muffled groan sounded from the pillow.

-x-

Sasori and Deidara arrived when the blood drops on the floor from Hidan's ritual had been completely smeared out by the numerous feet that had walked over them. This was one of the conditions for Deidara to come - the first time seeing Hidan's ritual had been enough to last him a lifetime.

Deidara had already disappeared into the crowd when Sasori was greeted by hard pats on his back by Pein who guided him over to the corner where the other S-ranks (besides Hidan) resided.

"You actually made it!" Pein said with exaggerated surprise. "Thought you'd officially moved in with Blondie already." He gave the redhead a push so that the latter plopped down on his bed, wedged between Kakuzu and Konan, and handed him a can of beer.

Sasori opened it wordlessly, ignoring the meaningful looks his rank-mates were sending him. He was somewhat aware of the disapproval in their eyes that he'd earned by repeatedly choosing Deidara's company over theirs, but he couldn't say he really cared. It wasn't like he had completely abandoned them, either. He was there, wasn't he?

"Someone remind me again, how the _fuck _did those two end up together?" Tayuya put in.

"Bitch's asking the right questions for once," Konan said. "Weren't they at each other's throats not so long ago?"

Sasori shrugged. "Brat wouldn't leave me alone, is all."

Pein laughed. "Pretty sure there's a bit more moaning and grinding to it, but we don't mind being spared of the details."

It wasn't hard to guess that that was the impression any relationship of his would have left, given his personal history - but Sasori was not bothered by it. It was true that sex was what had first made up his mind on his relationship with Deidara, but as time had gone on, the blond's proximity had become more preferable to solitude even without the intimate touch.

There was just something to Deidara's vibrant being that drew him closer. The blond talked a lot, but what he said often captivated Sasori and gave more food to thought than he would have had alone.

Deidara was also very adaptive. He seemed to have no problem with the harshness Sasori sometimes exhibited and hadn't brought up the topic of their pasts ever since it had last been mentioned before their week-long punishment.

It was not like Sasori was going to explain any of this to his rank-mates, though. They could think what they wanted and it didn't make any difference.

Sasori hadn't noticed when the conversation topic had changed from him to something else and didn't keep track of the new topic, either, but rather focused on his own thoughts.

Times like that, when he would completely drift away from reality and get lost in his own mind in the middle of a group conversation, which he more often than not deemed too boring to concern himself with, had become rare after Deidara had invaded his life. It was like Deidara always found a way to engage him in whatever was going on around them; in a way the blond _was _his bridge to reality, only he managed to make it so that even when entering reality Sasori wasn't forced to leave his comfort zone.

It was only after Sasori had experienced it, that he realized how much he appreciated it. He could have lived without it, it wasn't a necessity - but he preferred to be with it.

It wasn't long before Deidara joined the group and, somewhat hastily, made his way into Sasori's lap, bringing the redhead's surroundings back into focus.

Sasori blinked and looked up at once at the blond straddling his legs and, with hands resting limply against his sides. Blond fringe shielding his face like a curtain from others, Deidara leaned closer until his face was almost touching Sasori's shoulder, and whispered, "The nutter is driving me the same flavor of Nutella as he is."

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Did you come here for protection?" The mockery was obvious in his voice.

Deidara barked a humorless laugh and straightened up. "No," he said, holding up his chin in a way that stated he had enough pride to keep him from stooping as low as to looking for a bodyguard. "I came here because I knew he'd follow me and then he'd annoy you, too."

As if on cue, the guy Sasori recognized as the one that had come knocking on Deidara's door before made his way into the S-rank group, seemingly oblivious of how much of an outcast his A-rank clothes made him. The conversation quieted simultaneously with the guy's final step as he came to a halt and let his gaze run over the small clique before fixing his eyes solely on Deidara.

The blond twisted around on Sasori's lap and with a strained smile said, "Everyone, this is Sai."

The look of disinterest was almost unique on every one of the seven faces in the group. Tayuya was the first to make a sound as she snorted. "What's this fucker want here? Don't tell me this is your fucking side ho."

Sai smiled sheepishly, which was an inappropriate enough reaction to earn him some raised eyebrows. "Side ho, ha, that's a good one," he said in a tone that left it unclear whether he was joking or not. "Actually, speaking of side hoes, Deidara, has your cathouse shut down already?"

Deidara, and probably others, too, waited for an elaboration on the question, but the queer smile on the sickly pale face stayed in place without words for a long enough time that Deidara had to ask, "What fucking cathouse_?_"

Sai shrugged. "I'd just heard that you kept jumping from guy to guy and seeing as you're currently so clung on Sasori, who indubitably does nothing but one night stands, I was wondering when he'd finally let you off so I could maybe rent you myself."

The statement was followed by a fit of obnoxious laughter, which Deidara was the only one to join in with. They laughed together for a solid half-minute, the blond's reaction spreading confusion among the group and raising the question whether there was an unlikely inside joke none of the others were getting.

It only took Deidara a split-second to go from laughing to a fully serious expression. "You couldn't afford me," he cut Sai's laughter sharply and looked him in the eye as the latter quieted. He gave Sai a second to take the sentence in, and seeing realization register on the guy's face, he popped the B with his lips as he added, "Bitch."

Deidara turned back to Sasori, saying quietly, "I'm heading back. Enjoy your stay." He got up and left the room without another word.

-x-

Deidara was alone in the washing room with a towel around his neck, brushing his teeth over one of the sinks when he heard the door opening. He raised his gaze and saw from the mirror reflection the one person he really did not want to see anymore enter.

With an internal sigh he spit out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. It looked like it was time to leave.

He dried his mouth with the end of the towel and grabbed his toothpaste and -brush, and turned to go. He kept his gaze in front of him to avoid unnecessary eye contact and shouldered into the figure that had frozen in his way.

_Bitch, _Deidara thought and rolled his eyes, fixing his gaze on the door two meters away.

A split-second later a fist caught him in the cheek, sending him stumbling off his course. He swirled around the moment he regained his balance, hand grasping the hurting spot, and sent Sai a bewildered gaze.

"The fuck's your problem man?!" he shouted.

Sai was standing in the middle of the room with an expressionless face that was impossible to read. Combined with his actions it made him seem like a psychopath to Deidara, and more so than he was used to.

"You're my problem, I guess," he said. "Every time I see you, I just feel like locking you up, handcuffing you to a bed, maybe after a few whips-"

"ALRIGHT!" Deidara shouted. "Forget I asked! I really don't want to know actually."

Sai chuckled and cocked his head to one side. He took a step closer and kept following as Deidara backed up against the wall. His hand ran up the blond's shirt and gripped the fabric tight., bringing him closer to his face.

"Imagine that, I've finally got you all alone." Sai's smile was calm and dreamy, as though he wasn't fully focused on reality, belying the tone of his voice, which turned into a snarl. "And now you don't have your redhead here to protect you, either."

Deidara countered with a faked smile. "Sasori always did say he wouldn't be here for me at times like this," he said, placing his hand on top of Sai's in an unnoticeable manner. "That's why he taught me this." With a poke of the thumb beneath the knuckles, Deidara pulled the other's hand off his shirt and bent it forwards at a right angle before twisting it to the side in a sharp move. A crack sounded in the room and Sai was on his back on the floor moaning in pain over his broken wrist.

"Next time it'll be your neck."

The door slammed closed behind Deidara.

-x-

The desk lamp was lit in his room when Deidara entered, casting dim light around the room. Sasori was lying on the bed in a black T-shirt and sweatpants, which confirmed what Deidara could have guessed already before that he was staying the night again. Sasori's eyes were closed, but Deidara knew him not to be asleep. He could rarely fall asleep before midnight, that much he'd learnt from all the time spent with him.

Deidara closed the door and walked over to the small mirror on his wardrobe to check out the damage his face had received. The bed creaked as Sasori got up, but Deidara's attention was on the small wound beneath his cheekbone left by Sai's thumb and the drop of blood that had run down his cheek from it.

Deidara growled, "Someone should cut that freak's nails."

Sasori walked up quietly behind the blond and twirled him around with hands on his hips.

"Again you kept me waiting," he stated with a frown, cocking his head to one side as he eyes the blood and reddening bruise on the Deidara's cheek. He gripped the blond's chin and turned it to the side to take a better look. His eyebrows furrowed deeper. "And failed to utilise my instructions."

"I did break his wrist," Deidara defended with a pout. "I haven't had as much practice as you."

With a tender kiss Sasori sucked away the blood drop and ran his tongue across the wound. His lips slid across the skin closer to his ear, and he whispered, "Next time make it quicker." He tugged Deidara closer with one finger through his belt loop and grinds their hips together.

"Yes, Danna," Deidara breathed a moment before they smash their lips together.

Deidara's eyes closed instantly and he opened up his mouth for Sasori's tongue. Sasori slid in, eagerly devouring the other. Their tongues mingled and Deidara's hands crawled up Sasori's clothed chest before looping around him and pulling him even closer.

Sasori's hand travelled around the curve of Deidara's hip, groping his ass and squeezing one of the cheeks. Deidara moaned into the kiss as he feels Sasori's hand slid up and down again past the hem of his pants and beneath the cloth.

They broke the kiss for air, their lips still almost touching. Deidara could hear his own breaths fastening as he gazed into Sasori's half-lidded eyes. The lustful and dominant look in those them alone was enough to send blood rushing into his lower regions, but combined with Sasori's hands roaming around on his body as they wished made him lose all will of self-control.

He obliged wordlessly as Sasori pulled him onto his lap on the bed and let his shirt be removed and tossed aside. Their lips were in constant contact even as Sasori unzipped his pants and pushed his hips up so the pants could be pulled down.

It took little time for Sasori to lubricate his fingers and push them into Deidara's entrance, eliciting a loud moan from the latter. His lips moved away from Deidara's mouth to give way to the pleasurable sounds and proceed to the pale long neck, leaving a long trail of hickeys.

Sasori's fingers worked fast inside the blond, skilfully undoing his mind and receiving more and more moans. He could feel the other's member rubbing against his shirt and could only imagine the things the friction was doing to the blond.

Deidara's back arched as he cried out, "_Sasori-_" and came all over their stomachs, falling limp on Sasori's shoulder.

A quiet laugh sounded from the crook of Sasori's neck where Deidara had buried his face as both of them eye the mess the redhead's black shirt had become.

"Should've seen that coming," Deidara quipped.

Sasori pushed the blond off his shoulder to remove the stained shirt. He tossed it onto the ground on top of Deidara's.

"Since we're doing laundry anyway, I won't need to worry about making more of a mess as I fuck you senseless against the wall."

Deidara's eyes widened the slightest bit before he was already pushed off the redhead's lap and, on his knees, on the bed against the wall, with Sasori's arms on both sides restricting his movement.

He could feel Sasori's bare torso against his back right after the redhead had pushed down his own pants. A pair of lips planted a kiss on his neck before Sasori entered him and pushed fully in.

"_Ahh-_" Deidara cried out, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt himself becoming completely full with Sasori's cock stretching his well-lubricated hole. Right after Sasori slid out again, only to slam back in, and started rocking back and forth.

Deidara's torso was pressed against the cold wall and rubbing against it. He pressed one side of his face against the cold surface, half-lidded eyes finding Sasori's face.

Beads of sweat had begun to form on Sasori's forehead and an eerie smile crossed his face as he made eye contact with Deidara. His eyes then found his lips, so full and inviting, and rested on them as he came to a brief halt buried deep inside Deidara.

"Shit, I might actually love you," Sasori muttered almost inaudibly before he dove in and caught Deidara's lower lip between his teeth.

Deidara let out another moan as Sasori slid out and continued the rough pace.

"Shit, your cock feels so good, Danna," Deidara groaned and felt Sasori bite down on his shoulder. He'd be covered in red marks by morning, that was for sure. The bed was creaking loudly beneath them and his member was ready to burst, the few times it brushed against the wall, reminding him of his ever growing urge.

"T-_ah_-touch me, Danna-" he begged, his mind so fogged that it was a matter of seconds before he'd reach his climax.

Sasori gripped his cock tightly and started pumping it; it wasn't long before Deidara melted between his arms and came all over his hand. Sasori gave a few last thrusts before coming as well. With heavy breathing, his eyes closed and he leaned against Deidara's bare back, allowing his breathing to slow down. His hand travelled up Deidara's stomach and halted on his chest, feeling it rise and fall at an even pace and trying to match his own to the rhythm.

Deidara's lips were stretched out in a blissful smile. The cold wall surface against his forehead did well at balancing the heat from Sasori's body wrapped around him. It was completely silent in the room with only the sound of their breaths disturbing the silence. He could have stayed like that for the rest of the night.

It was when the sticky liquid ran down onto Sasori's lap that he snorted a half-chuckle and planted a kiss on Deidara's shoulder before pulling out and shifting over in bed. "I believe a proper shower is called for."

-x-

It was about an half-hour to midnight that the duo lay in bed, Deidara's head resting on top of Sasori's chest. It was dark in the room, only the moonlight coming from the small window beside the desk cast shadows on the wall that Deidara found fascinating to observe. Lying like that in silence was one of Deidara's favourite parts of the day, second to only... the obvious.

"I want to visit a shadow theatre when we get out of here," he said thoughtfully, watching the shadows shimmer on the wall as the wind swayed the branches of trees outside the window.

Sasori lay with his eyes closed. "We could."

Deidara's eyes widened, but didn't shift from the wall as shiver ran through him, the source lying in Sasori's use of words.

"We?" he parroted with pretence casualness. It was the first time they had ever mentioned their future after graduation. Deidara had always, maybe partly subconsciously, avoided the topic as he was not sure Sasori's thoughts on the matter would have pleased him. He preferred living in the present, it caused less worries.

"You were planning on running away from me after graduation?" Sasori made sure to make the mockery obvious in his tone, but it didn't manage to hide all notes of unease.

Deidara chuckled nervously, the sound seemed forced. "Not really, no. I kinda always figured you'd have your own plans that don't necessarily include me."

"Hm" was all Deidara got as a response. He frowned. Helpful, really, now that they'd finally reached the inevitable topic.

"I mean, I only really know you _in _school, you know?" Deidara said. "I've almost no clue of your world _outside _this building. I know nothing about your family, your friends, pets even." He added after a thoughtful pause, "Although you don't really seem like the pet kind of person."

"I've you, don't I?" Sasori responded.

"Har har," Deidara said with an eye roll, feeling the tension in the atmosphere alleviate for a moment.

Sasori sighed, as though the burden of one joke was too much to bear. "I'm not much different outside than I am here," he said. "I used to live with my uncle, but I'm not going back there."

"Why?" Deidara's voice was merely a whisper.

Another sigh. "A relative that frames you using the unfortunate accident of their mother to get rid of you so they could spend your money on heroine isn't really a person you'd like to go back to, is it?"

"I thought you said no background stories," Deidara said.

"Figured you might stay with me a while longer, if I compromise."

"I believe I just might, Danna."

The hands of the clock passed midnight, bringing along the embrace of sleep. Deidara nuzzled against Sasori's neck and dozed off with a peaceful smile. Death could bring along whatever it wanted, be it limbo or rebirth, Deidara would be able to face it with certainty that he has taken the most from life.

_THE END_


End file.
